Although United have been strongly linked with Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in recent days, it has always been the priority at Old Trafford to get the Mbeumo deal done in time for Amorim to work with him in the Chicago, where United will largely be based for their 13-day trip.
The 25-year-old scored 20 Premier League goals last season and a number of clubs were interested in him, including Tottenham, now managed by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank.
However, Mbeumo’s preference was to join United.
Brentford’s other main goal threat, striker Yoane Wissa, is the subject of interest from Newcastle.
Last season Amorim repeatedly spoke about United’s failure to convert their chances.
Their 44 Premier League goals was their worst return in a domestic campaign since they were relegated in 1973-74.
United have signed forward Matheus Cunha and defender Diego Leon in the summer transfer window.
If you’ve bought an Android phone in the past year, you’ve likely noticed that it’s packed with AI features. Maybe you knew about them before you hit purchase, maybe you assumed (safely as it turns out) that there would be some kind of AI on your new phone, or maybe they took you totally by surprise.
If you bought a Samsung Galaxy S25, for example, you’ll have had Gemini, Circle to Search, Bixby and Galaxy AI at your fingertips — all before you even thought about downloading the ChatGPT app. It reminds me of the early days of Android, when phone-makers tried to load devices with their own apps, services and overwrought UIs in the name of differentiation. Which sparks the question: Is AI the new Android bloatware?
It’s easy to understand why Android phone-makers have latched onto the idea that AI might be a useful tool to set them apart from rivals. After all, most flagship Android phones share the same DNA: a high-end processor (usually the top Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm), the latest Android software, a competitive camera system and a battery that will last for a day or more. The truth is that we’re often splitting hairs when trying to recommend one over another.
When generative AI arrived on the scene, offering the potential to bring new experiences to mobile devices, Android phone-makers were keen to tap into those possibilities. Here was a new opportunity to differentiate themselves, and give people a fresh reason to choose them over a competitor. (And over the iPhone, as Apple slow-walks Apple Intelligence into being.)
In reality, it’s not quite playing out that way — and for a few different reasons. First, research conducted by CNET and supported by the findings of independent industry analysts consistently shows us that people aren’t upgrading their phones due to the availability of AI features. Instead, the things they care about, in order of importance are price, longer battery life, storage, cameras. In other words, the same exact things they’ve prioritized for years when choosing a new phone.
The second issue is that in spite of some manufacturers’ best efforts, AI isn’t the differentiator they thought it would be. At the heart of this problem is that there’s barely an Android phone hitting the market right now that doesn’t already have the most cutting-edge tech built into it thanks to Google Gemini. Every Android phone maker has its own flavor of AI, but more often than not, this means a bunch of gimmicky features added onto the existing software in a haphazard fashion, creating something of a Frankenstein effect.
Early-mover advantage: Galaxy AI
Of all the Android phone-makers trying to make their own AI brand stick in our minds, it’s perhaps Samsung that’s in with the best chance. Compared to rivals, it was relatively early to jump onto the AI bandwagon, launching Galaxy AI in January 2024, giving it a strategic headstart that it’s built on ever since.
Last week it followed the launch of its latest foldables with an AI forum, during which it revealed that 70% of Galaxy S25 owners were using Galaxy AI features. More than half, it added, were using Circle to Search. This year it will bring Galaxy AI to more than 400 million devices.
Android’s Circle to Search feature originally launched on Samsung Galaxy S24 and Pixel 8 phones in January 2024.
Samsung/Screenshot by CNET
This all sounds positive, until you remember that Circle to Search is a Google feature, not a Samsung feature. Google, which makes the Android OS, often hands out temporary exclusives to Android phone-makers on new Gemini features, as it initially did with Circle to Search for Samsung in 2024. It did it again this year with an image-to-video generator, which debuted with Honor.
It’s surely a nice sweetener for Google’s relationships with phone-makers to be able to offer them these exclusives. But most of the standalone AI mobile tools we’ve seen grab the headlines are ultimately Gemini features made by Google, not the work of individual phone-makers, and it’s only a matter of time before they become available on other Android devices – including Google’s own Pixel phones.
To Google, “nothing is more important than Gemini,” said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight. It is a “strategic pillar of the future of Google.” And how better, he adds, to ensure its success than getting it into people’s hands through the 3 billion Android phones in the marketplace (which puts Samsung’s 400 million into perspective)?
Samsung might have the largest market share of any Android phone maker, but when you look at its reach compared to Google’s, it’s clear that Galaxy AI, which sits on top of Gemini, is at a competitive disadvantage.
Bonus AI
Of course Samsung and other Android phone-makers will say their own flavors of AI don’t compete with Gemini, but complement it. And there is some validity in this idea.
It’s rare that a phone maker attempts to replicate something Google has already done. Instead they look for opportunities to add their own AI twist — often in the form of camera features. But whether they do this well enough for it to make any kind of meaningful impact on people’s decisions to buy their phones is another question entirely.
This week, OnePlus began rolling out its own suite of AI features, announced back in May, to the OnePlus 13 and 13R. These include some photo tools and an AI content hub called Plus Mind to act as your memory for important information.
OnePlus’ natural language search within “Mind Space” worked well for me.
Katie Collins/CNET
It would be a waste of time for OnePlus to replicate features in house that have already been developed by Google, said Arthur Lam in an interview at the software launch. A central part of the company’s AI strategy is to “embrace and integrate [Google AI features] as fast as possible,” he said.
“At the same time, we should have our own proposition, our own idea about what OnePlus AI should stand for,” added Lam.
This is where Plus Mind comes in. It’s an interesting first step from the company, although perhaps not quite as compelling as a company such as Motorola, which is investing in a LAM (large action model) — as opposed to an LLM, or large language model — that will respond to questions with actions, not just words. The idea is that it will use its understanding of your environment and reduce the number of interactions you need to have with your phone to order a coffee or an Uber, for example.
All roads lead to Gemini
As for Google, the company thinks it’s “great” that phone makers are developing their own AI to complement the suite of tools it’s providing them. That’s what Sameer Samat, president of Android, told Tech Radar this week.
“If the features are great, it’s more value for the consumers and more innovation,” he said. “But I think for us, as Google, we want to make sure those two pieces [Circle to Search and Gemini] are very clearly accessible, very clearly identifiable across all the different devices that consumers are considering.”
It’s a revealing statement from Samat, supporting the theory that Google’s ambition is to be the final boss of the AI smartphone experience. As Wood puts it: “All roads lead to Gemini.”
Ultimately, it’s not only Google’s reach that is going to allow Gemini to be the dominant AI tool on Android phones, but the budget and talent the company has to dedicate to AI, which individual phone-makers just can’t match.
This means that when it comes to differentiation, AI is unlikely to be the factor that sets brands such as Samsung and OnePlus apart. “Handset manufacturers are in danger of being left to compete more on brand and industrial design than AI features and capabilities,” said Wood.
True differentiation: The Nothing story
One company that seems to have realized this is UK-based Nothing. Over the past year or so, I’ve attended, either in person or virtually, almost every major Android phone launch. One thing most of them have in common is a Google representative on stage espousing the many benefits of Gemini.
At the launch of the Nothing Phone 3 in London earlier this month, the company bucked this trend. Nothing still has a tiny market share — around 0.2% as estimated by founder and CEO Carl Pei. But since its inception in 2022, it’s managed to thrive and grow in a competitive, mature phone marketplace thanks largely due to its focus on design.
Nothing’s focus on design sets it apart.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
That’s not to say it’s ignored AI, but it has taken a different approach. Earlier this year it launched “Essential Space,” an AI-powered portal for storing and organizing everything important on your phone, from screenshots to calendar invites. It was a unique feature that’s already been effectively copied by some other phone-makers (see OnePlus’ efforts above).
Nothing does use Gemini, but it’s not reliant on it in the same way its competitors are. “We don’t want to do the model side,” Pei explained to me at its Phone 3 launch earlier this month. “There’s companies that are really good at it. They’re very well funded and they’re all competing against each other.”
Instead, Nothing has built its AI platform to be “model agnostic,” he said. “When the models get better, we just switch to the best one. Right now, I think it’s powered by Gemini, but there’s no stopping us from changing to the latest and greatest.”
The uphill battle ahead
A flexible approach to AI seems like the safest bet at this time when the technology is changing minute by minute. It’ll be an uphill battle for Android phone-makers to keep up, and hope their own efforts will remain relevant and prove useful as Google charges ahead offering best-in-class mobile AI experiences.
The real fight here is the same one we’ve seen play out for the past decade and a half: It’s Apple versus Google. The true differentiation we’re seeing in mobile AI right now is between Google Gemini and Apple Intelligence, with the former leading the field and the latter trailing in its wake.
For as long as Google attempts to aggressively build upon its early AI lead while holding the Android ecosystem in the palm of its hand, phone-makers will need to do more than just rely on AI to persuade us that their Android offering truly is the best of the best.
Realistic electron microscopy of Clostridioides difficile, highly detailed rod-shaped structure, spores with textured surfaces, flagella, acid-green and purple hues, contrasting black background.
(Adobe Stock 1318793046 by Waseem by AI)
A new randomized clinical trial published this month in JAMA Network Open sheds light on the use of oral vancomycin to prevent recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) in patients taking antibiotics for reasons unrelated to CDI. While the findings suggest a trend toward reduced recurrence, the study was ultimately underpowered, leaving important questions about the effectiveness and risks of this approach.
CDI remains the most common cause of health care-associated diarrhea, and recurrence is a significant concern. More than one-third of patients experience at least 1 repeat episode after an initial infection, with risk increasing further with each recurrence. Antibiotic exposure, even for conditions unrelated to CDI, is a primary trigger, disrupting the gut microbiome and allowing C difficile to flourish again. This creates an urgent need for effective strategies to prevent recurrence, especially when patients must take antibiotics for other infections.
This new trial sought to test whether a daily low dose of oral vancomycin could prevent recurrent CDI in such high-risk patients. Conducted across 4 major health systems in the Midwest from 2018 to 2023, the study enrolled adults who had recovered from CDI within the previous 6 months and were beginning a short course of antibiotics for another condition. Participants were randomized to receive either 125 mg of oral vancomycin or a placebo once daily throughout their antibiotic course and for five days afterward.
“In this randomized clinical trial, the incidence of recurrent CDI was lower (though did not reach significance) in participants taking oral vancomycin compared with those taking placebo,” the authors wrote. “Because the study was underpowered, it was unable to reveal firm conclusions about the efficacy (or lack thereof) of vancomycin prophylaxis with respect to recurrent CDI.”
Ultimately, 81 participants were randomized: 39 to vancomycin and 42 to placebo. They were closely monitored for eight weeks after completing treatment. The study found that 43.6% of patients in the vancomycin group experienced a recurrence, compared to 57.1% in the placebo group. Although this suggested a possible protective effect, the difference was not statistically significant, highlighting the challenges of drawing firm conclusions from a study with fewer participants than initially planned.
Beyond recurrence rates, the researchers also examined the impact on vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), a concerning consequence of antibiotic use. By the end of the follow-up period, 50% of patients taking vancomycin showed VRE colonization, compared to only 24% in the placebo group 8 weeks after treatment. This points to a potential downside of using oral vancomycin prophylactically, as it may contribute to the spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms.
Additionally, the authors wrote, “Adverse events occurred in 27 of 39 participants in the oral vancomycin group (69.2%) and 27 of 42 in the placebo group (64.3%).”
These findings add to a complex and sometimes conflicting body of evidence. Previous retrospective studies and smaller trials have suggested that oral vancomycin may help reduce the likelihood of CDI recurrence when patients take additional antibiotics. However, data have been limited, with varying dosages, study designs, and patient populations. Some studies also noted that while vancomycin might temporarily suppress C difficile, many patients began shedding the organism again within weeks of stopping treatment, raising concerns about the durability of any protective effect.
Guidelines reflect this uncertainty. While the American College of Gastroenterology has offered a conditional recommendation for oral vancomycin prophylaxis in patients at high risk for recurrence, it acknowledges the low quality of available evidence. Other leading groups, including the Infectious Diseases Society of America and European infectious disease societies, have either not endorsed routine prophylaxis or have suggested it only for carefully selected patients.
This latest trial followed a rigorous double-blind, placebo-controlled design, making it one of the more robust efforts to explore this question. Yet enrollment challenges, including patients already taking vancomycin outside the study and disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, limited its statistical power. As a result, while trends favored fewer recurrences in the vancomycin group, the study could not definitively establish that the intervention worked better than placebo.
Importantly, the increased detection of VRE in patients taking oral vancomycin underscores the trade-offs involved. While preventing CDI is critical, fostering resistant organisms carries its own serious risks for both individual patients and broader public health.
In the end, this study highlights the urgent need for more research into effective ways to prevent recurrent CDI, especially during subsequent antibiotic exposures. It also serves as a caution that interventions like oral vancomycin prophylaxis should be carefully weighed against their potential to drive antibiotic resistance.
For now, clinicians and patients must continue to navigate these complex decisions using the best available evidence, individualized risk assessments, and an understanding of both the benefits and downsides of prophylactic strategies. As the search continues for reliable methods to prevent recurrent CDI, studies like this provide essential insights to guide clinical practice and future investigations.
Asian equities had a good day as Thailand, Indonesia, and Pakistan outperformed, while India posted a small loss.
Hong Kong bounced around the room, while Shanghai and Shenzhen grinded higher, going from the lower left to the upper right.
It was a fairly quiet night, as Premier Li and the State Council’s meeting on “strengthening the domestic big cycle” and limiting EV price wars, i.e. ”anti-involution”, were front page news. The implications of the government curtailing “overcapacity” in the auto, steel, cement, E-Commerce, and solar industries are significant for corporate balance sheets, ending domestic deflation, and China not exporting deflation.
Li Auto gained +9.73% after announcing that a new model is open for pre-sales, as Geely Auto gained +4.16%, BYD gained +1.06%, XPeng gained +1.14%, though Xiaomi fell -2.01% and CATL fell -0.27%.
Biotech stocks in both Hong Kong and Mainland China continued to outperform overnight, as Akeso gained +10.71% after starting Phase 3 trials for a metastatic colorectal cancer treatment. The space continues to benefit from drug releases, distribution deals, and favorable policy support. BeOne, formerly known as Beigene, gained +10.6%, Jiangsu Hengrui gained +2.06%, Sino Biopharmaceutical gained +5.9%, CSPC Pharma gained +3.58%, and WuXi Apptec gained +2.42%.
Internet names were mixed, as Alibaba fell -1.14%, Meituan gained +1.13%, JD.com fell -0.16%, Trip.com fell -0.88%, Kuaishou fell -0.65%, and Tencent Music Entertainment gained +1.78%. South China Morning Post had an article about Meituan complaining about “irrational competition” from Alibaba and JD.com after the latter’s entrance into the restaurant delivery space sparked a price war. Another Chinese city announced local plans to curb the price war.
Mainland investors bought $236 million worth of Hong Kong-listed stocks and ETFs via Southbound Stock Connect, though Tencent, which gained +0.10% overnight, remains a funding source and was sold by Mainland investors. Hong Kong and Mainland China-listed electronic equipment makers, software, and semiconductor stocks had very strong days. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang’s China trip and comments on chip sale approvals and the quality of Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) and AI garnered significant attention.
According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), China’s auto exports increased +10.4% year-over-year (YoY) to 3.07 million in June.
After the close, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) adjusted the tax rate on ultra-luxury cars with price tags above RMB 900,000 and canceled taxes on used vehicles.
China and Australia singed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to review the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement following Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s six-day trip to China. There was also more media chatter of US-China trade deal percolating.
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Last Night’s Performance
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Last Night’s Exchange Rates, Prices, & Yields
CNY per USD 7.18 versus 7.17 yesterday
CNY per EUR 8.31 versus 8.34 yesterday
Yield on 10-Year Government Bond 1.66% versus 1.66% yesterday
Yield on 10-Year China Development Bank Bond 1.72% versus 1.72% yesterday
Emerging DJs Declan Knapp and Baobei (宝贝) have won the opportunity of a lifetime to play on the iconic island of Ibiza by opening Radio 1 Dance Weekend 2025 on Friday 1 August at 528 Ibiza. Every year, Radio 1 Dance partners with BBC Introducing to search for the UK’s very best and undiscovered DJs who produce their own music.
Jaguar will host a special show tonight (Thursday 17 July) from 10pm on BBC Introducing on Radio 1 Dance where she will play tracks from both winners.
The entries to Radio 1 Dance and BBC Introducing’s nationwide talent search were reviewed by BBC Introducing’s network of local and regional shows with each show forwarding one entry to the final shortlist and a panel of Radio 1 DJs and producers selecting the two winners.
Declan Knapp is known for his high-energy blend of house, garage, and bass with emotive, euphoric builds. His official edit of Groove Armada’s ‘Superstylin’ landed its first radio play on Danny Howard’s Radio 1 Dance Party and earned support from Martin Garrix, Pete Tong, and Hannah Wants. Declan’s music has been played on Jaguar and Jess Iszatt’s Introducing shows, Radio 1’s Rave-Up with Arielle Free, Radio 1’s Future Dance with Sarah Story, and Radio 1’s Dance Anthems with Connor Coates.
Declan Knapp says: “BBC Radio 1 has been a big part of my journey, so being invited to play their Ibiza weekend is something I’m really proud of. I’ve spent years crafting my sound and sets and now I get to bring that to one of the most iconic places in dance music. Expect a lot of energy and some proper moments.”
Baobei (宝贝) is a London-born, British-Chinese DJ, producer and songwriter who blends next gen UK Garage and house with pure pop sensibilities. In January this year, Baobei’s track ‘Hugging My Friends’ was BBC Introducing’s Tune Of The Week and secured radio support from Danny Howard, Greg James, Radio 1’s Future Dance with Sarah Story, Jaguar on BBC Introducing on Radio 1 Dance, Jess Iszatt’s Introducing show, and Radio 1’s Chillest Show with Sian Eleri.
Baobei says: “I am so looking forward to DJing for Radio 1 Dance Weekend and experiencing Ibiza club culture for the first time which I’ve heard so much about! I’m very grateful for the continued support from BBC Radio 1 and Introducing throughout my music journey. I am excited to play a fun set and add to Baobei lore!”
They join a stellar line-up of some of the biggest names in Dance music including newly added Brazilian dance sensation, Alok, Ukrainian DJ, Miss Monique, and British DJ, TSHA. The full line-up for Radio 1 Dance Weekend Ibiza 2025 is (in alphabetical order):
Alok
Biscits
Chloé Caillet
Chris Lake
Coco & Breezy
Disciples
Emily Nash
Jess Bays
Special Guest b3b Special Guest b3b Locky
Miss Monique
Olive F
Sonny Fodera
TSHA
Zerb
In addition to Radio 1’s epic dance event, the celebrations will continue throughout the weekend with Radio 1 Dance X at the following club across the island
Radio 1 Dance X Afterparty at Amnesia Ibiza – Friday 1 August
Line Up: Josh Baker, B2B Kettama, Caal, Chloe Callet, Danny Howard, Sarah Story
ANTS at Ushuaïa Ibiza – Saturday 2 August
Line-up: Djammin, Franky Rizardo B2b Cloonee, Jaguar, John Summit, Max Styler, Pete Tong
elrow at [UNVRS] Ibiza – Saturday 2 August
Line-up: Arielle Free, George Privati, Hugel, Matroda
Glitterbox at Hï Ibiza – Sunday 3 August
Line-up: Dan Shake B2b Myd, Dj Minx, Sophie Lloyd, Eli Escobar, Floorplan, Rich Medina, Joshua Lang, Mike Dunn
Tickets for Radio 1 Dance Weekend: Ibiza 2025 are currently on sale. Find more information on the Radio 1 Dance Weekend website.
For those listening at home, the celebrations will kick off on Thursday 31 July in Radio 1 Dance Party Warmup with Danny Howard (Thursday, 6pm – 8pm) and will continue throughout the weekend with the station playing a mammoth eighty hours of Dance music. As well as this, Radio 1 Dance Weekend 2025 will broadcast live from Radio 1’s Main Stage on Friday 1 August, and from Radio 1’s Dance Stage on 2 August. Listeners will be able to tune in across the weekend on Radio 1 and Radio 1 Dance with performances and tracks available live and on demand across BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer.
New research from Northwestern Medicine detects a common, but usually harmless virus in the brains of Parkinson’s patients
Postdoctoral fellow Barbara Hanson, PhD, and Igor Koralnik, MD, chief of Neuroinfectious Diseases and Global Neurology in the Department of Neurology, in the laboratory.
New research from Northwestern Medicine published in JCI Insight has found that a usually harmless virus might be an environmental trigger or contributor to Parkinson’s disease, which affects more than one million people in the United States. While some cases are linked to genetics, most Parkinson’s cases are not, and the cause is unknown.
“We wanted to investigate potential environmental factors – such as viruses – that might contribute to Parkinson’s disease,” said Igor Koralnik, MD, chief of Neuroinfectious Diseases and Global Neurology in the Department of Neurology. “Using a tool called ‘ViroFind’, we analyzed post-mortem brain samples from individuals with Parkinson’s and from those who died of other causes. We searched for all known human-infecting viruses to identify any differences between the two groups.”
Northwestern Medicine scientists detected the Human Pegivirus (HPgV) in the brains of individuals with Parkinson’s disease, but not in those without it. While HPgV belongs to the same family as hepatitis C and is a blood-borne virus, it is not known to cause any disease.
“HPgV is a common, symptomless infection previously not known to frequently infect the brain,” Koralnik said. “We were surprised to find it in the brains of Parkinson’s patients at such high frequency and not in the controls. Even more unexpected was how the immune system responded differently, depending on a person’s genetics. This suggests it could be an environmental factor that interacts with the body in ways we didn’t realize before. For a virus that was thought to be harmless, these findings suggest it may have important effects, in the context of Parkinson’s disease. It may influence how Parkinson’s develops, especially in people with certain genetic backgrounds.”
Koralnik and his team, including postdoctoral fellow Barbara Hanson, PhD, studied post-mortem brains from 10 people with Parkinson’s and 14 without. They found HPgV in the post-mortem brains of five out of 10 people with Parkinson’s and none of the 14 control brains. It was also present in the spinal fluid of Parkinson’s patients, but not in the control group. Individuals with HPgV in their brains exhibited more advanced or distinct neuropathological changes, including increased tau pathology and altered levels of certain brain proteins.
For the blood analysis, the investigators used samples from over 1,000 participants in the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative, which was launched by The Michael J. Fox Foundation and scientists to create a robust biosample library to help speed scientific breakthroughs and new treatments.
“With the blood samples, we observed similar immune-related changes, mirroring those found in the brain,” Koralnik said. “People who had the virus showed different signals from the immune system than those who didn’t, and this pattern was the same, no matter the genetics. But as we followed each person over time, we saw a more complicated picture.”
The study found that in patients with a certain Parkinson’s-related gene mutation – LRRK2 – the signals from the immune system were different in response to the virus compared to Parkinson’s patients without the mutation.
“We plan to look more closely at how genes like LRRK2 affect the body’s response to other viral infections to figure out if this is a special effect of HPgV or a broader response to viruses,” Koralnik added.
Going forward, the research team plans to study more people to find out how common the HPgV virus is in Parkinson’s patients and whether it plays a role in the disease.
“One big question we still need to answer is how often the virus gets into the brains of people with or without Parkinson’s,” said Koralnik. “We also aim to understand how viruses and genes interact; insights that could reveal how Parkinson’s begins and could help guide future therapies.”
According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, over one million people in the United States are living with Parkinson’s disease and 90,000 new cases are diagnosed every year. The number of people living with Parkinson’s disease is expected to rise to 1.2 million by 2030.
This study was supported in part by the Michael J. Fox Foundation research grant MJFF-021128 and by NIH National Institute on Aging grant P30AG072977.
For more information on Parkinson’s disease, visit nm.org.
Astronomers unveiled a striking new view of the interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS on its journey toward the inner solar system.
The Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i captured the newfound comet passing through our cosmic neighborhood, about 290 million miles (465 million kilometers) from Earth.
3I/ATLAS was initially detected by ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) on July 1. It’s just the third known interstellar object — meaning it originated outside of our solar system — according to a statement from the National Science Foundation (NSF) NOIRLab, which operates the International Gemini Observatory.
“The sensitivity and scheduling agility of the International Gemini Observatory has provided critical early characterization of this interstellar wanderer,” Martin Still, NSF program director for the International Gemini Observatory, said in the statement. “We look forward to a bounty of new data and insights as this object warms itself on sunlight before continuing its cold, dark journey between the stars.”
Interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS are remnants from distant star systems that have been ejected into space. They offer valuable insights into the building blocks of other planetary systems in the universe — including the chemical elements that were present when and where they formed, according to the statement.
3I/ATLAS is only the third interstellar object detected visiting our solar system, after 1I’Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019. While more objects of this nature are believed to regularly pass through our solar system, they are incredibly difficult to capture.
However, at an estimated 12 miles (20 km) in diameter, 3I/ATLAS is much larger than previous interstellar objects, making it a better target for study. The new images from the Gemini North telescope show that the comet has a compact coma — the cloud of gas and dust enveloping its icy core. And other observations have suggested that it may be the oldest comet ever discovered (possibly older than our solar system), hailing from the outer thick disk of the Milky Way.
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
Comet 3I/ATLAS streaks across a dense star field in this image captured by the Gemini North telescope’s Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph. The left panel captures the comet’s colorful trail as it moves through the solar system. The image was composed of exposures taken through three filters, shown here as red, green and blue. The right inset zooms in to reveal the comet’s compact coma. (Image credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/K. Meech (IfA/U. Hawaii); Image Processing: Jen Miller & Mahdi Zamani (NSF NOIRLab))
3I/ATLAS will reach its closest approach to the sun on Oct. 30, passing within 130 million miles (210 million km), or just inside the orbit of Mars. In December, 3I/ATLAS will pass within about 170 million miles (270 million km) of Earth, though it will pose no danger to our planet.
Given 3I/ATLAS’ highly eccentric orbit, this will be its one and only visit to our solar system, as its trajectory does not loop back around the sun. That’s why astronomers around the world are using a wide variety of telescopes to observe the comet during its brief visit, before it returns to interstellar space.
Ami Colé, the premium cosmetics line stocked in Sephora and backed by L’Oréal, will shutter in September, founder Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye confirmed on Thursday.
In an article for New York Magazine’s The Cut, N’Diaye, who previously worked at Glossier and L’Oréal, wrote that she could not compete with the “deep pockets of corporate brands” and that “prime shelf space comes at a price” the business couldn’t afford, describing how its attempts to grow dented its sales. According to sources close to the company, it was searching for a buyer before making the decision to close.
“We made operational decisions that felt necessary at the time — like scaling up production to meet potential demand — without truly knowing how the market would respond,” N’Diaye wrote. Stock levelsbecame difficult to predict, as viral peaks could cause products to sell out and then be overstocked, and that investor expectations, which she described as “temperamental,” were piling up.
Founded in 2021, the line launched with a range of skin tints and lip oils, designed by N’Diaye to fill a gap in the market for darker skin tones. Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the line became one of many Black-owned consumer brands to garner venture capital support; the line raised over $1 million subsequently and launched in Sephora in 2022, becoming available in more than 600 stores.
In October 2024, the line received a minority investment from BOLD, the corporate venture capital arm of L’Oréal.
A crop of independent founder-led brands, Black-owned labels like Uoma Beauty and Hyper Skin, have struggled to maintain access to growth capital — the former’s founder is currently suing MacArthur Beauty, its private equity owner, alleging it was under-sold without her knowledge or consent, while the latter is currently running a crowdfunding campaign to raise $150,000 to save its business.
In a press release circulated at the time of its L’Oréal investment, the brand was said to have grown its revenue 75 percent the previous year. It won more than 80 industry awards and was featured in Oprah Winfrey’s “Favorite Things” list.
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The suit alleges that the December 2023 purchase of the brand’s assets was an unauthorised sale, and seeks damages for “unjust enrichment”.
