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  • Black Ops 7′ First Trailer Goes Full ‘Inception’

    Black Ops 7′ First Trailer Goes Full ‘Inception’

    As the end of summer draws near, so begins the hype cycle for the next annual iteration of Call of Duty. Kicking off the opening night of this week’s Gamescom 2025 in Cologne is the first official trailer for the game, titled Black Ops 7, which reveals what fans can expect from the game’s action-heavy story when it launches on Nov. 14.

    Watch the first look below.

    The trailer opens with a look at a mostly unrecognizable future with David Mason (Milo Ventimiglia), the returning protagonist from Black Ops II (2012), and a troop of sci-fi looking soldiers. But things quickly go off the deep end as, either by some psychotropic drug or virtual reality shenanigans, the game’s world is literally turned upside down with roads, building, and more warped to twist into sky like something out of Inception. From just a quick look, it appears extremely different visually and mechanically from any Call of Duty before it.

    Following the trailer, the game’s developers took the stage to tell host Geoff Keighley more about the game, which will include a fully cooperative story campaign as well as an all-new PvP (player vs. player) endgame experience that opens up after the main narrative ends.

    Arriving just a year after Black Ops 6, the new game is set in 2035 and technically serves as a direct sequel to Black Ops II and prequel to Black Ops 4 (2018) — which might be confusing to casual fans, but such is the nature of the sub-series. The Black Ops games follow their own continuity under the larger Call of Duty banner, and frequently bounce around non-chronologically between eras, with Black Ops 4 being the furthest entry in the timeline, taking place in the 2040s.

    David Mason (Milo Ventimiglia) returns from Black Ops II.

    Activision

    Unlike last year’s Black Ops 6, whose Nineties-era setting brought the franchise back to a (relatively) grounded place, the new game once again stretches into a near-future, pseudo-sci-fi tone with high-tech gadgets and weaponry at players’ disposal. Once again co-developed by Call of Duty studios Treyarch and Raven Software, the next entry will have all the many modes fans expect like a robust single-player and cooperative campaign, competitive multiplayer, and of course, Zombies.

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    Initially announced back in June, the game surprised many by returning the world of Black Ops so soon after the previous installment, making it the first Call of Duty title to stick to a specific sub-series or serve as a direct sequel since the original trilogy of games that launched from 2003 to 2006. Traditionally, Call of Duty swaps between its mini-series and subtitles like Modern Warfare and Black Ops annually, each developed by a different creative team. This will be the first time in two decades that the same studios will have released back-to-back entries just a year apart.

    The ethereal world resembles the visuals of Inception.

    Activision

    Recently, Call of Duty has been on its fans’ good graces, with last year’s Black Ops 6 arriving to acclaim with an innovative new movement system and solid trifecta of game modes that all felt exceptionally well-designed (and are all practically individual games in their own right). The series’ free-to-play live-service game Warzone has remained immensely popular as a throughline for fans who might not be interested in the perpetual release cycle of the paid entries, which are rendered mostly obsolete year after year.

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    The return to a more fantastical near-future setting may also serve as a blessing for the franchise, which finally sees some still competition in the military shooter space with the upcoming release of EA’s Battlefield 6. Early impressions of that game’s beta test have been extremely positive, and with a contemporary setting closer to Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare series. With a clear differentiation between the two flavors of jingoistic multiplayer shooter, players can revel in the franchise rivalry that was previously most heated back in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

    It remains to be seen if Black Ops 7 can live up to the high watermark of last year’s entry, but players will know soon enough when the game launches for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on Nov. 14.

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  • Nvidia-Led Tech Slide Cracks Summer Calm in Stocks: Markets Wrap

    Nvidia-Led Tech Slide Cracks Summer Calm in Stocks: Markets Wrap


    This content was published on

    (Bloomberg) — Wall Street’s summer calm cracked as a selloff in big tech sent major stock gauges lower, underscoring the market’s narrow reliance on a handful of growth giants.

    The Nasdaq 100 slid 1.5% — its second-worst drop since April’s tariff shock — led by a rout in Nvidia Corp. That pressure overwhelmed gains in over 300 S&P 500 names, exposing the fragility of an index propped up by megacap muscle. Home Depot Inc.’s results lifted big-box retailers, while Intel Corp. jumped as the US is ironing out the details of a deal for the US to take a 10% stake.

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    Treasuries rose ahead of Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech Friday, with traders firming up bets on a September cut. Ten-year yields slid three basis points to 4.30%. S&P Global Ratings said revenues from tariffs will help soften the blow to the US’s fiscal health from tax cuts, enabling it to maintain its current credit grade. The crypto world was engulfed in the rout in riskier assets.

    Positioning across US equity markets remains at elevated levels following a strong second-quarter reporting season, according to Citigroup Inc. strategists including Chris Montagu. Individual investors are likely to slow their torrid pace of stock buying in September before resuming later this year, said Scott Rubner at Citadel Securities.

    “It is always easier when the markets are going up,” said Nicholas Bohnsack at Strategas. “It is difficult to poke holes in the bull case; the path of least resistance is likely higher, but we find ourselves increasingly worried that traditional risk assets (stocks and bonds) appear priced to perfection.”

    Options traders worrying about tech weakness after a torrid surge have been trying to protect themselves with “disaster” puts on the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 ETF, according Jeff Jacobson at 22V Research. A measure showing the difference between the cost of hedging against a sharp downturn and a smaller one is at an almost three-year high.

    Earlier this month, Bank of America Corp. strategists led by Michael Hartnett said the rally that’s propelled the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks about 40% higher since April looks stretched. Hartnett has repeatedly warned of a bubble risk in US stocks this year.

    The technology sector reclaimed its spot as the S&P 500’s top performer last quarter, helping indexes rise to all-time highs, noted Bret Kenwell at eToro. While valuations appear stretched, elevated growth expectations help justify prices, and AI enthusiasm as well as momentum can help keep tech in the driver seat, he said.

    “Whether money continues to flow into the ‘Magnificent Seven’ leaders or rotate within the group, investors will likely look for tech’s continued leadership in the second half of 2025,” he noted.

    Traders are also gearing up for Powell’s speech on Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with the Treasury market seeing a quarter-point rate cut next month as virtually a lock and at least one more by year-end.

    “As the market readies for Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole, we’ll argue that the biggest risk for Treasuries is if the Fed chief chooses to throw cold water on the widely anticipated September rate cut,” said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets.

    While this is not Lyngen’s base-case scenario, he says the front-end of the curve is vulnerable to a correction if Powell doesn’t deliver on the degree of dovishness currently anticipated.

    Investors are waiting to see if Powell affirms the market pricing — or pushes back with a reminder that new data arriving before the next policy gathering could change the picture. They’re also looking for clues about the longer-run trajectory of Fed cuts into next year.

    “The market is all but pricing in a certainty for rate cuts in September and we agree with the market’s expectations,” said Stephen Schwartz at Pioneer Financial. “Rate cuts are warranted as financial conditions are too tight right now given the softening of the inflation data and the cracks we are starting to see in the labor market.”

    A couple of weeks ago, when the latest jobs report revealed a slump in hiring, the case for lower rates appeared all but closed. Then came the sharpest spike in US wholesale prices in three years – fuel for the concern about tariff-led inflation that’s kept Fed officials on hold so far this year.

    While the recent inflation data has been volatile with some conflicting signals, Schwartz says there’s a market perception that the inflation surge from 2022 is behind us.

    “While we expect some near-term volatility, we believe markets will continue to move past the inflation situation, and that the economy and the US consumer are strong enough to continue growing,” he said.

    At Bank of America Corp., strategists including Mark Cabana and Meghan Swiber say they don’t think Powell will sound as dovish as the market expects.

    “Powell’s reaction function to recent stagflationary data will be key,” they noted. “Will he be spooked by jobs revisions or lean into the labor supply slowdown?”

    In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman deflected when asked if she would be interested in leading the central bank as chair.

    On the geopolitical front, President Donald Trump urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy to show some “flexibility” as the US president accelerates his efforts to end the war in Ukraine and encourages the two leaders to hold a bilateral summit.

    “While there’s a sense that the path to peace is at least slightly clearer, traders remain wary,” said Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and Forex.com. “And rightly so – the toughest conversations, namely over territory, still lie ahead.”

    Corporate Highlights:

    SoftBank Group Corp. agreed to buy $2 billion of Intel Corp. stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. Meta Platforms Inc. is splitting its newly formed artificial intelligence group into four distinct teams and reassigning many of the company’s existing AI employees, an attempt to better capitalize on billions of dollars’ worth of recently acquired talent. Palo Alto Networks Inc. gave a stronger-than-expected annual forecast, as the company seeks to provide customers with a bundle of AI-enabled cybersecurity products to fend off attacks. Apple Inc. is expanding iPhone production in India at five factories, including a pair of recently opened plants, as it seeks to lessen its reliance on China for US-bound models. Tesla Inc. priced its new six-seat Model Y sport utility vehicle in the same range as local rival Li Auto Inc.’s extended-range L8 model to win over middle-class families in China’s hyper-competitive market. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he’d support consolidation as a means to make the US freight rail industry more efficient, a potential boost for Union Pacific Corp.’s $72 billion takeover of Norfolk Southern Corp. Ford Motor Co. and South Korea’s SK On are seeking buyers for excess battery supply produced at their new joint-venture Kentucky factory, underscoring the waning demand for electric vehicles in the US. Viking Therapeutics Inc.’s experimental obesity pill disappointed in a mid-stage study, marking another weaker-than-expected result for an oral alternative to popular weight-loss injections. Starbucks Corp. will give all salaried employees in North America a 2% raise this year as the coffee chain looks to pull off a high-stakes turnaround and manage expenses. Anglo American Plc suffered a major setback to its restructuring plans after Peabody Energy Corp. decided to walk away from a $3.8 billion deal to buy its steelmaking coal business following a fire at an Australian mine. US power and natural gas utilities Black Hills Corp. and NorthWestern Energy Group agreed to merge in a $3.6 billion deal that underscores the boom for electricity demand that’s being unleashed by data centers. Nexstar Media Group Inc. has agreed to buy TV station operator Tegna Inc. for $3.5 billion in a cash deal that stands to dramatically expand Nexstar’s reach to 80% of US households and test the Trump administration’s appetite for consolidation. Medtronic Plc will expand its board after Elliott Investment Management became one of its biggest investors. The medical devices maker also reported profit that beat estimates and lifted full-year earnings guidance. Amer Sports Inc. shares fell after one of its key divisions posted the slowest sales growth on record. Air Canada will restart flights Tuesday evening after reaching a deal with flight attendants to end a three-day walkout that led to mass cancellations during the busy summer season and upended the carrier’s financial outlook. BHP Group’s full-year underlying profit fell by more than a quarter to its lowest level since the pandemic, broadly in line with market expectations, as prices of its key earners — iron ore and coking coal — came under pressure from softer Chinese demand. Shein Group Ltd. has considered moving its base back to China in the hopes that it would help sway Beijing authorities to sign off on the fast-fashion retailer’s plans to go public in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter. What Bloomberg Strategists say…

    “The Fed’s current stance of remaining open to rate cuts because of benign inflation data is the Goldilocks scenario that’s both keeping the Treasury curve from steepening, and allowing the Magnificent Seven earnings and wider S&P 500 margin story to reign supreme.”

    — Edward Harrison, Macro Strategist, Markets Live.

    For the full analysis, click here.

    Some of the main moves in markets:

    Stocks

    The S&P 500 fell 0.7% as of 3:03 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.5% The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% The MSCI World Index fell 0.5% Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 1.8% The Russell 2000 Index fell 0.9% S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index rose 0.3% Intel rose 7% Currencies

    The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2% The euro fell 0.1% to $1.1645 The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.3483 The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 147.53 per dollar Cryptocurrencies

    Bitcoin fell 3.1% to $112,852.42 Ether fell 4.6% to $4,132.87 Bonds

    The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 4.30% Germany’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 2.75% Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.74% The yield on 2-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 3.75% The yield on 30-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 4.90% Commodities

    West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.5% to $62.49 a barrel Spot gold fell 0.4% to $3,318.61 an ounce ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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  • Patient’s Cartilage Cells Key to Hip Surgery Healing

    Patient’s Cartilage Cells Key to Hip Surgery Healing

    Researchers at the University of Missouri are on a mission to help patients recover from hip surgery with less pain, and they may have found an innovative solution: using the patient’s own cartilage cells.

    Molly Jones, a Mizzou medical student, contributed to a recent Mizzou study aimed at helping those with a hip issue known as femoral acetabular impingement (FAI). Those with FAI have a bony bump called a CAM lesion that constantly scrapes and grinds into the hip socket, causing pain and joint problems.

    Currently, doctors remove the CAM lesion — which is covered in cartilage — from the hip through surgery, and the cartilage is typically thrown away. But at Mizzou, Jones and her team are asking whether that cartilage, once removed, can be grown in a lab and eventually reimplanted into the patient’s hip to aid in healing.

    In the study, the research team collected cartilage removed during hip surgeries. They discovered that cartilage cells, or chondrocytes, can be cultured and expanded in the lab, opening the door to future clinical applications.

    This scientific breakthrough could one day enable surgeons to return lab-grown cartilage to the hip joint, potentially reducing pain and accelerating post-operative recovery. The research symbolizes Mizzou’s pursuit of cutting-edge, next-generation medicine.

    “It’s exciting to be a part of innovative medical research that can help doctors treat pain and ultimately improve the quality of life for people struggling with FAI,” Jones said. “As a former college golfer who has had wrist surgery, I have always been interested in the anatomy of bones and joints. This research furthers my interest in orthopaedic surgery.”

    Jones is currently completing her clinical training in Springfield, Missouri, as part of her third year at Mizzou’s School of Medicine . The study was conducted in the Thompson Regenerative Orthopaedic Lab at the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute on Mizzou’s campus, in partnership with Steven DeFroda, an orthopaedic surgeon in the School of Medicine.

    “The faculty at Mizzou are very collaborative and support students interested in research,” Jones said. “It makes me proud to be at Mizzou, and I’m excited about where this research can go moving forward.”

    “Viability of chondrocytes harvested during treatment of hip femoroacetabular impingement” was published in Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery.

    /Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.

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  • K&L Gates Advises Commonwealth Fusion Systems on Strategic Partnership with Google on Power Purchase Agreements | News & Events

    K&L Gates Advises Commonwealth Fusion Systems on Strategic Partnership with Google on Power Purchase Agreements | News & Events

    Global law firm K&L Gates LLP advised Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) during the negotiations of a power purchase agreement with Google. CFS, through its first ARCTM power plant – the world’s first grid-scale fusion power plant – plans to deliver fusion power onto the electrical grid in the early 2030s.

    Through the agreement, Google will purchase 200 megawatts of power from CFS’s ARC fusion power plant, which is expected to be built in Virginia. This partnership signifies CFS and Google’s commitment to advancing fusion energy and the companies’ visions for a fusion-powered future.

    The cross-disciplinary and multi-office team was led by Portland of counsel Bill Holmes and Pittsburgh associate Samantha DeLee. Washington, DC partners Kimberly Frank, Cheryl Isaac, and Marty Pugh also assisted on the matter.

    Bill Holmes noted that it was a “great opportunity to work on this cutting-edge transaction and an absolute pleasure working with the CFS team. It has been truly exciting to have been part of this groundbreaking effort.”

    Rick Needham, Chief Commercial Officer of CFS, stated: “It’s quite the feather in the cap to say we all negotiated and closed the first true bilateral fusion PPA and the largest fusion deal in history – so far. We’re grateful for the keen insights from the K&L Gates team as we navigated this partnership and look forward to their continued support as fusion energy becomes widespread.”

    K&L Gates is a fully integrated global law firm with lawyers located across five continents. The firm represents leading multinational corporations, growth and middle-market companies, capital markets participants and entrepreneurs in every major industry group as well as public sector entities, educational institutions, philanthropic organizations and individuals.

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  • Brinson Exploration Hub Projects Make Invisible Visible

    Brinson Exploration Hub Projects Make Invisible Visible

    Three innovative new projects to explore Earth and the cosmos have been selected to move forward through the Brinson Exploration Hub at Caltech. The projects, each with a co-lead based on Caltech’s campus and another from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), will map the mysterious filaments of matter between galaxies using ultraviolet light, use seismic waves to image Antarctic glaciers, and deploy an autonomous underwater vehicle to measure water and ice properties beneath ice shelves near the poles. Another concept, focused on lunar exploration, will continue into an exploratory phase for further development.

    These projects are the first to be selected through the Brinson Exploration Hub, which was established at Caltech in 2024. The first proposal cycle elicited submissions from a diverse collection of teams from Caltech’s campus and JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA.

    In alignment with the Brinson Hub’s “fundamental pillars,” the projects have been selected for their ability to drive scientific and societal benefit, take advantage of emerging opportunities in the broader Earth and space exploration ecosystem, and be executed with speed and risk tolerance. Each project also includes an embedded educational component, reflecting the Brinson Hub’s commitment to cultivating “space-savvy alumni.” Finally, the projects advance the broader ambitions of Caltech and JPL.

    The Brinson Exploration Hub was launched through a $100 million gift from The Brinson Foundation to empower scientists and engineers from campus and JPL to collaborate on boundary-pushing science projects that develop and test new research and instrumentation and deepen our understanding of the universe. This collaboration, which embraces external partnership opportunities including with commercial and nonprofit entities, enables higher-risk project implementation on faster timescales and at lower cost than is typically possible through conventional means.

    “We were looking for more than good ideas; we were looking for teams ready to build and deploy,” says Brinson Hub director Mark Simons, the John W. and Herberta M. Miles Professor of Geophysics at Caltech. “These projects stood out not just for their potential impact, but for the real progress their teams had already made toward implementation. Each one reflects the spirit of the Brinson Hub: a willingness to take smart risks, to move quickly, and to collaborate across disciplines and institutions. This first portfolio is helping us learn how to do things differently, how to get from concept to deployment with urgency and purpose.” Each selected project is at a different stage of development, ranging from early maturation to full implementation.

    Mapping the Invisible Universe

    Throughout his career, Chris Martin, the Edward C. Stone Professor of Physics and director of Caltech Optical Observatories, has been thinking about how to make the invisible architecture of the universe visible. Only 5 percent of all normal matter in the universe exists in galaxies like our Milky Way; the other 95 percent is distributed in diffuse filamentous strands that crisscross the universe like a spiderweb, found around galaxies in the circumgalactic medium and between them in the intergalactic medium. Martin had dreamed up plans for how to image the faint cosmic web in the ultraviolet spectrum, but it was not until a fortuitous encounter at a Brinson Hub Workshop in 2024, where he met JPL systems engineer Laura Jones-Wilson, that those dreams started to become reality.

    Earlier in her career at JPL, Jones-Wilson was part of a team of engineers that built a telescope called STABLE (Subarc sec Telescope And BaLloon Experiment), a high-precision telescope system designed for use on scientific balloons. The telescope was never deployed and remained packaged in a box in a JPL warehouse for years.

    At the Brinson Hub workshop, Jones-Wilson attended a presentation by Martin on how a balloon-based telescope could be used to image the cosmic web. High-altitude balloons are a simple way to loft telescopes above Earth’s obscuring atmosphere without having to launch them on costly rockets. Jones-Wilson realized that she had a telescope-the now-boxed-up STABLE-that might be perfect for imaging the cosmic web.

    “I told Chris that there was a telescope just sitting, waiting to be used,” Jones-Wilson says. “It was an amazing and fortuitous occurrence, and we continued to develop the concept during the workshop and thereafter.”

    Zoom In to Image

    Laura Jones-Wilson and Chris Martin at the Balloons for Science Workshop at Caltech.

    The collaboration led to their Brinson Hub proposal for the STABLE Cosmic Web Imager (SCWI), a high-altitude-balloon-borne telescope to map the cosmic structures that offer insights into the formation and evolution of our galaxy. The balloon will circumnavigate the South Pole for weeks, observing the ultraviolet emissions from both the circumgalactic medium and the intergalactic medium, 7 billion light-years away. SCWI will set the stage for larger missions to explore the cosmos, such as NASA’s Ultraviolet Explorer (targeted to launch in 2030 and led by Caltech’s Fiona Harrison, the Harold A. Rosen Professor of Physics).

    “It’s important to understand how we-humans, our solar system, our galaxy-got here,” Martin says. “It gives us perspective on our place in the universe. It is the basic cultural context that every human who has ever lived exists in. I think that’s why people are drawn to space exploration; it’s a form of history. We’re mapping things that have never been mapped before.”

    The team is currently in a year-long maturation phase, during which they are refining the UV instrument design, inspecting the STABLE payload, and securing funding for full implementation.

    The Inhospitable Frontier

    Antarctica is, in many ways, an alien environment: Its harsh conditions are inhospitable to life, and its remote nature makes access difficult. But the region is critical to understand as melting ice from Antarctic glaciers and ice sheets continues to impact sea level rise around the world. Specifically, the grounding line of an Antarctic glacier-the interface where it protrudes from land and floats on seawater-is one of the most inaccessible regions of the world. However, the manner in which glaciers respond to ocean tides illustrates how these complex natural systems will behave under a changing climate.

    A collaboration between Zhongwen Zhan (PhD ’13), professor of geophysics and the Clarence R. Allen Leadership Chair and director of Caltech’s Seismological Laboratory; and JPL’s Joel Steinkraus, systems engineer in the Technology Infusion Group; aims to make this remote zone visible through seismic imaging. Their project, GLASS (Grounding zone Long-term Acoustic Sensing of Structure), will deploy up to 10 kilometers of fiber-optic cable on Antarctica’s Union Glacier, located near the West Antarctic Peninsula. Using a technique called distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), the team will send beams of laser light down the fiber-optic cables and measure how light traveling through the fiber is perturbed by seismic waves. This can be used to essentially image the ice-ocean interface as tides move the floating ice shelf.

    “We’ve done a lot with DAS in the past, but this is different,” Zhan says. “We’re pushing the technology in ways we haven’t before-designing for extreme conditions, building quickly, and aiming for real scientific return on a short timeline. That’s what makes this exciting. We’re not just testing a new instrument; we’re trying to unlock a part of Earth that’s been hidden from view.”

    Zhongwen Zhan in a bright red winter coat swinging a sledgehammer at the Antarctic ice Zoom In to Image

    Zhongwen Zhan swinging a sledgehammer at the Antarctic ice Credit: Zhongwen Zhan

    Zhan has deployed DAS on fiber-optic cables around the world, but because of Antarctica’s harsh conditions, the team will be using a new version of DAS that is lightweight and low power. Their timeline is ambitious (with only 9 months from kickoff to deployment) and like any rapid development, comes with risks and challenges. But the team is confident-DAS has been extensively tested for different uses, using seismic waves to image parts of the crust-mantle boundary, measure the movement of groundwater, and even capture rumblings from individual floats in the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena. Ultimately, the new version of DAS could be deployed to the Moon-another harsh, inhospitable environment-to study seismic processes in the lunar interior.

    “The Antarctic region is like the interior of Earth or the bottom of the ocean. This environment is very hard to understand, and we’re trying to shed light on it,” Steinkraus says. “When you send things to Mars and into orbit, you’re a bit divorced from seeing how your hardware is deployed. This is more tangible. We’re going to unique places and standing in the environment where you’ll get the science, one of the most isolated and inhospitable places on Earth.”

    The team plans to conduct a full deployment in Antarctica in late 2025.

    Beneath the Antarctic ice

    Another Brinson Exploration Hub-funded project called SURGE (SUbsurface Robotics for Grounding zone Exploration) also focuses on Antarctic ice shelves. Rather than seismic sensors, SURGE will deploy an autonomous underwater robotic vehicle to explore and make measurements in the frigid waters beneath the ice shelves. This zone, where ice and water meet, lies beneath hundreds of meters of ice and is thus difficult to access, but it holds the key to understanding how quickly ice shelves are melting, what factors influence those processes, and the implications of rising sea levels.

    SURGE is a collaboration between Caltech’s Andy Thompson, the John S. and Sherry Chen Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, director of the Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for Global Environmental Science, and executive officer for Environmental Science; and JPL’s Paul Glick, robotics mechanical engineer in the Extreme Environment Robotic Systems Group.

    The autonomous vehicle, called IceNode, will measure temperature, salinity, and melt rates from beneath ice shelves by attaching to the base of the ice shelf and then periodically floating with the underwater current to observe new sites.

    “It’s one of the hardest places to explore on Earth and, as such, is one of the least explored,” Glick says. “Yet it is one of the most important locations, scientifically and societally.”

    People in a snowy environment with a cylindrical instrument in the ground Zoom In to Image

    Deploying ICENODE through the ice.

    The team is also working on an inexpensive and scalable manufacturing process in order to build dozens of IceNode robots that can be used by researchers around the world to conduct underwater science. Additionally, future missions to icy worlds like Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus may draw inspiration and lessons from IceNode’s abilities in environments where communications are challenged by long distances and high underwater pressures.

    “This kind of development would normally take years, and we’re doing it in months,” Thompson says. “We’re creating a platform that can scale, one that opens access to places that are challenging to reach. The science demands it, and the urgency of understanding ice loss under climate change means we can’t wait.”

    The team is currently evaluating potential sites for deployment in Antarctica and Greenland in 2026.

    Exploring the Moon

    The Brinson Exploration Hub is also supporting a feasibility study for a lunar mission concept that combines geophysical investigation with autonomous navigation. The proposed large-scale mission, called CLARITI (Caltech-JPL Lunar Autonomous Reconnaissance Investigation and Technology Infusion), involves a lunar orbiter that will map surface topography and gravity fields, measurements that would provide new insights into the Moon’s interior structure and inform future exploration.

    The feasibility study is focused on refining the mission architecture-its overall design and structure-and its alignment with potential partners. The study is co-led by Caltech’s Aaron Ames, the Bren Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering and Control and Dynamical Systems, and JPL’s Ryan Park, supervisor for the Solar System Dynamics Group. The study is facilitated by Allen Farrington, program area manager in JPL’s Office of Technology, Infusion, and Strategy, and Katherine Park, strategic planner in JPL’s Office of Strategy and Formulation.

    “CLARITI presents an exciting opportunity to explore a new approach to space mission formulation,” says Andy Klesh, associate director of the Brinson Exploration Hub. “It brings together many elements we value, and we’re exploring additional architectures that match the Brinson Hub’s pace, scale, and partnership-driven model. It’s a chance to reimagine how we design missions to be more agile and adaptable.”

    Together, these projects reflect the Brinson Exploration Hub’s core mission: to accelerate breakthrough science, develop and deploy rapidly, and foster a deep collaboration between researchers on Caltech’s campus and at JPL.

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  • Eliminating Cerebrovascular Disease May Prevent One-Third of US Dementia Cases

    Eliminating Cerebrovascular Disease May Prevent One-Third of US Dementia Cases

    Eric E. Smith, MD, MPH

    Credit: University of Calgary

    A study suggests that eliminating cerebrovascular disease from the US population could prevent 27% to 33% of dementia cases.1

    “There is good evidence from several studies that the burden of VCID is higher in Black groups, Hispanic groups (any race), American Indian groups, Alaska Native groups, and native Hawaiian groups compared with White groups and Asian groups,” wrote study investigator Eric E. Smith, MD, MPH, chair of the American Heart Association Stroke Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing/ Peripheral Vascular Disease, and colleagues.1 “The potential implication is that population-wide interventions to address hypertension, diabetes, smoking, and other risk factors may reduce the race- and ethnicity-based disparities in dementia incidence.”

    Often, vascular health contributes to cognitive impairment and dementia, a most preventable cause. Vascular disease can be prevented by managing diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension, along with regular exercise, a healthy diet, a healthy weight, reduced stress, tobacco avoidance, and movement once an hour.2

    Although common, the estimated prevalence and incidence of vascular dementia in the United States are lacking. Investigators sought to assess the prevalence and incidence of vascular dementia by reviewing epidemiological studies, neuropathological data of cerebrovascular contributions to dementia, and neuroimaging data of covert cerebrovascular disease on PubMed and EMBASE between April 28 and May 12, 2024.1

    In this study, investigators assumed 5.58 million people lived with dementia in 2020, with 1.28 million new dementia cases. The dementia prevalence was based on a nationally weighted study, and the dementia incidence was based on a prospective longitudinal study of randomly selected participants in a health plan in the northwest United States. The number of Americans aged ≥ 65 years by age and sex was collected from the 2020 US census.

    The review found variability in estimates of vascular dementia, with a greater prevalence in prospective epidemiological and autopsy-based studies than in physician diagnoses studies. Additionally, investigators found more studies on vascular contributions to dementia than to mild cognitive impairment.1

    Epidemiological studies showed that 2.7 million US individuals over 65 years old lived with vascular dementia or mixed dementia with a vascular contribution in 2020. These studies also showed that, in 2020, 603,000 individuals developed new vascular dementia or mixed vascular dementia. Moreover, healthcare billing data indicated that 809,000 people were diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2020, with 102,000 new cases.1

    The review also found that, in 2020, there were approximately 11.3 million people with covert brain infarcts, 11.1 million with high volumes of white matter hyperintensity, and 19.9 million with cerebral microbleeds. These cerebral microbleeds can be potentially detected by magnetic resonance imaging and prevented by risk factor modification.1

    Investigators estimated that eliminating cerebrovascular disease would prevent 27% to 33% of dementia cases, corresponding to 1.5 to 1.8 million fewer people with dementia in 2020.1

    The review showed that the overall dementia prevalence and incidence varied by race and ethnicity. Three studies using Medicare data reported a greater dementia prevalence and incidence among Black and Hispanic groups compared with non-Hispanic groups. An analysis of Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥ 68 years in 2013 found that a greater proportion of vascular dementia cases among non-Hispanic Black participants compared with White participants (19.2% vs 14.4%).3 Another study showed that the non-White race (97% Black) was a strong risk factor for incident vascular dementia (hazard ratio [HR], 2.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16 – 5.41) or mixed vascular and Alzheimer Disease (HRR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.06 – 3.27).4

    The review also found that while women may have a greater dementia prevalence, men may have a greater risk of vascular dementia. One study showed that 15.3% of men had vascular dementia compared with 14% of women.3 Another analysis demonstrated that the incidence rate of vascular dementia was greater in men than women (1.7% vs 1.3%).5

    “This scientific statement frames the burden of VCID in the US population and underscores the urgent need to control vascular risk factors, demonstrating that they not only contribute to cardiovascular disease and stroke but also place millions of Americans at risk for dementia,” investigators wrote.1 “Integrating vascular risk reduction strategies into public health initiatives is essential to safeguarding brain health and reducing the burden of dementia.”

    References

    1. Smith EE, Aparicio HJ, Gottesman RF, et al. Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in the United States: Prevalence and Incidence: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Stroke. Published online August 18, 2025. doi:10.1161/STR.0000000000000494
    2. Vascular Disease (Vasculopathy). Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17604-vascular-disease. Accessed August 19, 2025.
    3. Goodman RA, Lochner KA, Thambisetty M, Wingo TS, Posner SF, Ling SM. Prevalence of dementia subtypes in United States Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, 2011-2013. Alzheimers Dement. 2017;13(1):28-37. doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2016.04.002
    4. Kuller LH, Lopez OL, Jagust WJ, et al. Determinants of vascular dementia in the Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study. Neurology. 2005;64(9):1548-1552. doi:10.1212/01.WNL.0000160115.55756.DE
    5. Ruitenberg A, Ott A, van Swieten JC, Hofman A, Breteler MM. Incidence of dementia: does gender make a difference? Neurobiol Aging. 2001;22:575–580. doi: 10.1016/s0197-4580(01)00231-7

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  • Channel 4 & Canal+ Making Drama From Ronan Bennett

    Channel 4 & Canal+ Making Drama From Ronan Bennett

    The Day of the Jackal showrunner Ronan Bennett is reimagining 1969 war movie Army of Shadows for Channel 4 and Canal+, shifting the story from the French resistance in World War II to a near-future authoritarian Britain.

    Bennett is teaming with Studiocanal and Patrick Melrose producer Two Cities Television on Army of Shadows, loosely based on Jean Pierre Melville’s movie starring Lino Ventura and Joseph Kessel’s 1943 book of the same name.

    Using the underlying works of Army of Shadows, Bennett’s show is set in a near-future authoritarian Britain. Under de facto American occupation, a former British Army officer builds a covert resistance cell from scratch — navigating betrayal, moral compromise and the tension between patience and action — as young recruits fight to reclaim their country and their futures. The show will follow this British resistance across six episodes from first kills and internal betrayals to propaganda campaigns, internment camps, and a climactic political assassination.

    Army of Shadows is being made with the support of the Melville family, and the Kessel estate, which is controlled by the Irish Red Cross. The 1969 movie mixed Kessel’s experiences as a member of the French Resistance with fictional versions of other Resistance members. Initially criticized due in part to the political context of the time, the movie was re-released in the States in 2006 to critical acclaim, appearing in many critics’ best-of lists of that year.

    Bennett is an in-demand showrunner who created hit Channel 4-Netflix drama Top Boy and went on to showrun the Sky-Peacock adaptation of The Day of the Jackal, which has a second season renewal.

    Bennett said: “I’m thrilled to be working with the teams at Channel 4, Studio Canal, Two Cities and Canal+ on such great source material, and I’m delighted to have such strong support from the Melville family. Democracy is once again in clear and present danger. Resistance to fascism is – and must always be – a permanent struggle. This is a story about commitment, resistance and defiance in the coming age.” 

    Channel 4 has been going big on drama announcements this week as the Edinburgh TV Festival kicks off. Earlier today it unveiled a Steven Moffat show about No 10 Downing Street and yesterday it revealed a Glenn Close-starring adaptation of the short story collections of Swedish writer Helene Tursten titled Maud.

    Army of Shadows is a first co-production for Channel 4 and Canal+. Studiocanal is handling international sales and worldwide distribution. Studiocanal developed the series from inception with STV Studios-backed Two Cities. Ron Halpern, Joe Naftalin and Paul Gilbert of Studiocanal are executive producing the series with Stephen Wright and Michael Jackson of Two Cities. Bennett is EP. Further details about casting will be announced in due course.

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  • ‘Fallout’ Season 2 Trailer Reveals New Vegas

    ‘Fallout’ Season 2 Trailer Reveals New Vegas

    Prime Video has revealed the first trailer for Fallout season two along with the premiere date for the new episodes.

    The new season of Fallout, Prime Video says, “will pick up in the aftermath of the first season finale in taking audiences on a journey through the wasteland of the Mojave to the post-apocalyptic city of New Vegas.”

    The footage (below) was revealed at gaming convention gamescom and teases a significant flashback storyline showing how the devastating nuclear war began. Also, a new character, Robert House, played by Justin Theroux is introduced. In addition, the trailer gives a first look of one of the Fallout universe’s most anticipated post-apocalyptic predators: the Deathclaw.

    Fallout stars Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets), Aaron Moten (Emancipation), Walton Goggins (The White Lotus) and Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks) as survivors wandering the landscape of a retro-futurism post-apocalyptic America. Based on the blockbuster video game franchise, the show’s first season was a big success for Prime Video, ranking among the service’s top three most-watched original titles of all time. The second season will premiere Dec. 17 on Prime Video.

    The debut season concluded with the villainous Hank MacLean (MacLachlan) escaping amid the battle between the Brotherhood of Steel and Moldaver’s New California Republic raiders, while Lucy (Purnell) and The Ghoul (Goggins) forged an uneasy partnership as they trekked towards New Vegas — a popular location in the video game franchise.

    Fallout is from showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner along with executive producers Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Athena Wickham, Todd Howard, and James Altman.

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  • Americans fear AI permanently displacing workers, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

    Americans fear AI permanently displacing workers, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

    A Facebook data center in Prineville, Oregon.

    Meg Roussos | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Americans are deeply concerned over the prospect that advances in artificial intelligence could put swaths of the country out of work permanently, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

    The six-day poll, which concluded on Monday, showed 71% of respondents said they were concerned that AI will be “putting too many people out of work permanently.”

    The new technology burst into the national conversation in late 2022 when OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot launched and became the fastest-growing application of all time, with tech heavyweights like Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Google owner Alphabet and Microsoft offering their own AI products.

    While at present there are few signs of mass unemployment – the U.S. jobless rate was just 4.2% in July – artificial intelligence is stirring concerns as it reshapes jobs, industries and day-to-day life.

    Some 77% of respondents to the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they worried the technology could be used to stir up political chaos, a sign of unease over the now-common use of AI technology to create realistic videos of imaginary events.

    President Donald Trump last month posted on social media an AI-generated video of former Democratic president Barack Obama being arrested, an event that never happened.

    Americans are also leery about military applications for AI, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. Some 48% of respondents said the government should never use AI to determine the target of a military strike, compared with 24% who said the government should allow that sort of use of the technology. Another 28% said they were not sure.

    The general enthusiasm for AI shown by many people and companies has fueled further investments, such as Foxconn and SoftBank‘s planned data center equipment factory in Ohio. It has also upended national security policies as the United States and China vie for AI dominance.

    More than half of Americans – some 61% – said they were concerned about the amount of electricity needed to power the fast-growing technology.

    Google said earlier this month it had signed agreements with two U.S. electric utilities to reduce its AI data center power consumption during times of surging demand on the grid, as energy-intensive AI use outpaces power supplies.

    The new technology has also come under criticism for applications that have let AI bots hold romantic conversations with children, generate false medical information and help people make racist arguments.

    Two-thirds of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they worried that people would ditch relationships with other people in favor of AI companions.

    People were split on whether AI technology will improve education. Some 36% of respondents thought it would help, while 40% disagreed and the rest were not sure.

    The Reuters/Ipsos survey gathered responses online from 4,446 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of about 2 percentage points.

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  • First Look at Justin Theroux in ‘Fallout’ Season 2: Inside the Show’s Big Trip to Vegas

    First Look at Justin Theroux in ‘Fallout’ Season 2: Inside the Show’s Big Trip to Vegas

    He’s the first major pre-existing character to be added to the show—beyond cameos, at least— which feels like an appropriately Vegas-sized gamble. House is a deliciously dense character ripe for exploration, but get him wrong, and you’ll piss off a whole horde of Fallout fans. “Since we were doing New Vegas, to some extent, [House] is synonymous with Vegas, and in many ways, controls the city,” co-showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet tells GQ over Zoom, where we’re also joined by executive producer Jonathan Nolan. “So it felt like it was the only right way to do an adaptation,” she continues.

    “But also, he’s just an unbelievably interesting character. There’s interesting questions in protecting Vegas… And is that purely for his own ends, or is there any kind of greater good that he might be after? There’s so many echoes to the technocrats of our modern day.”

    “It was irresistible to spend some time with these characters. And House, to me, is the most memorable character [in New Vegas],” Nolan says. He also points to the character’s particular relevance in 2025. “Unfortunately, we are once again in a moment in which very wealthy technocrats have undue influence in the world. So, from a thematic perspective—again, irresistible.” (Sorry, game fans, but Nolan and Robertson-Dworet remain zip-lipped as to whether any other familiar faces from New Vegas will make it to season two: “Stay tuned and find out for yourself,” Nolan teases.)

    “Walton [Goggins] and I are friends,” Theroux explains to GQ over Zoom about his new co-star, who plays Cooper Howard, aka The Ghoul. “I think Jonah [Nolan] had said, ‘Why don’t you call him and offer him the part?’ So I just got a cold call from Walton going, ‘Hey man…’”

    The actor hadn’t actually seen the show, nor played the game, when Goggins got him on the phone. Usually, when he gets these kinds of calls, it’s for a bit part or a cameo that would take a day to shoot. “But, he was like, ‘No, it’s a guy I’m gonna be facing off with a lot.’” Once Theroux signed up, he caught up with Mr. House lore by watching gameplay videos on YouTube, trying to absorb as much as he could of what “House says and does”. (In Fallout: New Vegas, the character was voiced by the late actor René Auberjonois.)

    Why did Theroux feel like the guy to play House in live-action? “Justin’s an actor that we have long admired, and is just brilliant,” Nolan says. “Like so many in our cast, so fluent in both drama and comedy, and there aren’t a lot of actors who are equally comfortable in both.”

    “We find [House] in a place preparing to save Vegas from the coming apocalypse, which he has predicted within, I think, minutes or days,” Theroux explains, a plot point established by dialogue in New Vegas, but never directly explored in the games—nor live-action. “Whatever algorithm he has run has told him exactly when the apocalypse is going to happen, and how it’s going to happen,” he continues. “I’ll say nothing else other than there’s a fly in the ointment, and he has to call in Cooper Howard to help him figure out what that fly is.”

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