Governance and Legislation

UK cyber agency pushes for ‘strategic policy agenda’ as government efforts stall

/Alexander Martin – The Record – 10 June 2025) Following years-long delays in the United Kingdom bringing forward new cybersecurity legislation, what seems to be an increasingly exasperated National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) called on Monday for the country to adopt a strategic policy agenda to tackle the growing risks. Although the NCSC — a part of the cyber and signals intelligence agency GCHQ — is not a policymaking body in the United Kingdom, its latest blog post is explicit in setting out the need for more political attention on cybersecurity. It was co-written by Ollie Whitehouse, the agency’s chief technology officer, and Paul W, its principal technical director. Whitehouse has repeatedly warned that the technology market is broken and failing to incentivize building resilient and secure technology, and argued that regulation and legislation are not keeping pace with technology change. – https://therecord.media/ncsc-pushes-uk-government-create-strategic-cyber-policy-agenda

Growing push in Europe to regulate children’s social media use

(DigWatch – 10 June 2025) Several European countries, led by Denmark, France, and Greece, are intensifying efforts to shield children from the potentially harmful effects of social media. With Denmark taking over the EU Council presidency from July, its Digital Minister, Caroline Stage Olsen, has made clear that her country will push for a ban on social media for children under 15. Olsen criticises current platforms for failing to remove illegal content and relying on addictive features that encourage prolonged use. She also warned that platforms prioritise profit and data harvesting over the well-being of young users. – https://dig.watch/updates/growing-push-in-europe-to-regulate-childrens-social-media-use

Geostrategies

China’s AI chip tool QiMeng beats engineers, designs processors in just days

(Interesting Engineering – 10 June 2025) As the US-China tech war intensifies, both nations are racing to secure independence in critical technologies. With Washington tightening access to advanced chip tools, Beijing is ramping up efforts to break its reliance on Western software. In a major step, China’s top scientific body has unveiled a homegrown, AI-powered system to automate chip design, an area long dominated by American firms. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/chinas-ai-chip-tool-qimeng-beats-engineers-designs-processors-in-just-days

Canada Makes Quantum Technology a G7 Priority

(Quantum Insider – 8 June 2025) Canada has made quantum technology a core focus of its 2025 G7 agenda, positioning it as a strategic tool for economic growth, energy security, and digital transition. The announcement follows coordinated lobbying by Quantum Industry Canada and international partners, calling for trusted collaboration on quantum supply chains, cybersecurity, and competitiveness. A global industry summit, QUANTUM NOW, will be held in Montréal days after the G7, aiming to align business, policy, and investment strategies around industrial quantum deployment. – https://thequantuminsider.com/2025/06/08/canada-makes-quantum-technology-a-g7-priority/

Security, Defense, Intelligence, and Warfare

For Air Force weather experts, the cloud is the future – rain or shine

(Courtney Albon – Defense News – 10 June 2025) After spending the better part of a decade transitioning outdated systems and infrastructure to the cloud, the Air Force agency responsible for providing key weather and environmental inputs for military and intelligence operations is starting to see a silver lining. Air Force Weather started its digital transformation in 2017 amid a broader U.S. government push to migrate away from siloed data centers to more secure, efficient and capable could-based environments. As the Air Force’s largest special-purpose data processing node — crunching around 80 terabytes of data, or the equivalent of 6.6 billion pages of text, a day — the organization was a “big fat target” for cyber threats, according to Fred Fahlbusch, Air Force Weather’s data domain officer and chief of the weather resources, programs, data and cybersecurity division. – https://www.defensenews.com/air/2025/06/10/for-air-force-weather-experts-the-cloud-is-the-future-rain-or-shine/

Cybersecurity alarm after 184 million credentials exposed

(DigWatch – 10 June 2025) A vast unprotected database containing over 184 million credentials from major platforms and sectors has highlighted severe weaknesses in data security worldwide. The leaked credentials, harvested by infostealer malware and stored in plain text, pose significant risks to consumers and businesses, underscoring an urgent need for stronger cybersecurity and better data governance. Cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered the 47 GB database exposing emails, passwords, and authorisation URLs from tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Snapchat, as well as banking, healthcare, and government accounts. – https://dig.watch/updates/cybersecurity-alarm-after-184-million-credentials-exposed

Frontiers

Self-driving cars slash pedestrian danger by 51% with new ‘thinking’ AI

(Interesting Engineering – 10 June 2025) Last month, Waymo recalled over 1,200 autonomous taxis after a string of accidents involving utility poles, chain link fences, and other stationary objects. The incidents raised fresh concerns about how self-driving cars respond in real-world environments, especially where quick, ethical decisions are required. But a breakthrough from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) could help autonomous vehicles (AVs) handle traffic with the moral reasoning of a human driver. – https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/autonomous-vehicle-safety-upgrade-hkust

Digital twin tech powers smarter insulin delivery in artificial pancreas trials

(Interesting Engineering – 10 June 2025) Researchers in the US have designed an interactive artificial pancreas system that uses digital twin technology to control type 1 diabetes, showing promising results in early trials. Designed by scientists at the University of Virginia, the new technology called Adaptive Biobehavioral Control (ABC), significantly improved blood sugar control by adapting more closely to the user’s changing physiological needs. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/digital-twin-tech-powers-smarter-insulin-delivery-in-artificial-pancreas-trials

Toyota set to launch world’s first robot city at Japan’s Mount Fuji base in 2025

(Interesting Engineering – 10 June 2025) At the foot of Mount Fuji, Japan has launched one of its most ambitious technological experiments, known as Woven City, a fully connected, self-contained prototype metropolis developed by Toyota Motor Corporation. More than a decade in conceptual development and five years in construction, the 175-acre site is designed to serve as a real-world testbed for future mobility, smart infrastructure, and sustainable living. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/toyota-set-to-launch-worlds-first-robot-city

World’s first fault-tolerant quantum computer by IBM to run 100 million operations

(Interesting Engineering – 10 June 2025) The world’s largest industrial research organization has revealed its plans to develop the first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer, paving the way for practical and scalable quantum computing by the decade’s end. Technology company IBM, also called the Big Blue, revealed that the groundbreaking innovation Starling will be capable of running quantum circuits with over 100 million quantum gates on 200 logical qubits. – https://interestingengineering.com/science/fault-tolerant-quantum-computer

Northwestern Researchers Use AI to Identify Key Gene Sets that Cause Complex Disease

(AI Insider – 10 June 2025) Northwestern University researchers have developed a generative AI tool called TWAVE to identify combinations of genes responsible for complex diseases like cancer, asthma, and diabetes. TWAVE uses limited gene expression data to model how groups of genes collectively contribute to disease traits, bypassing traditional limitations of genome-wide association studies that focus on single genes. The AI model enables personalized treatment strategies by revealing how different gene sets can produce the same disease in different individuals, and accounts for environmental factors by focusing on dynamic gene expression rather than static DNA sequences. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2025/06/10/northwestern-researchers-use-ai-to-identify-key-gene-sets-that-cause-complex-disease/

NVIDIA Introduces cBottle, a Generative AI Foundation Model that Simulates Global Climate at Kilometer-Scale Resolution

(AI Insider – 10 June 2025) NVIDIA has launched cBottle, the first generative AI model designed to simulate Earth’s climate at kilometer-scale resolution, promising a major leap in speed and efficiency for climate modeling. Part of the Earth-2 platform, cBottle compresses petabyte-scale climate data up to 3,000x per sample, allowing researchers to generate and analyze accurate atmospheric scenarios thousands of times faster than traditional numerical methods. Early adopters include the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and the Allen Institute for AI, who are using cBottle to improve precision in climate forecasts and enable localized insights critical for weather response and climate resilience. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2025/06/10/nvidia-introduces-cbottle-a-generative-ai-foundation-model-that-simulates-global-climate-at-kilometer-scale-resolution/

China’s microrobot uses magnets to control droplets with unmatched speed, precision

(Interesting Engineering – 10 July 2025) Researchers from China have created an advanced microrobot to manipulate tiny liquid droplets using magnetic fields. The microbot, developed by a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Electric Power Research Institute, could guide droplets, merge them for reactions at slow speeds, and split them into pieces at high speeds. Thanks to powerful magnets, the robot moved 20 times faster than earlier microrobots and transported droplets nearly a milliliter in size. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/china-magnetic-microrobot

Robot uses ‘claw machine’ design to sort stem cells for embryo model studies

(Interesting Engineering – 10 June 2025) Researchers have just unveiled a new sorting machine that could kick-start our grasp of how human life comes into being in the first few weeks. The system, created at the University of Washington in tandem with the Brotman Baty Institute, allows scientists to isolate these cellular models more efficiently than ever before. Gastruloids are stem cell-derived models that replicate a key phase of early embryonic development: the third week of gestation, when the body’s three primary germ layers begin to form. Because the new model sidesteps the red-flagged ethical territory of working with real embryos, it offers a cleaner, simpler sandbox for scientists unwilling or unable to work with real embryos. – https://interestingengineering.com/science/claw-machine-sorting-system-embryo

Engineers create octopus-like soft robot arm powered entirely by light beams

(Interesting Engineering – 10 June 2025) Soon, a flexible octopus-like robot could be completely free of wires or internal electronics. Engineers at Rice University have unveiled a new soft robotic arm controlled by laser beams. Interestingly, this soft robotic arm can handle surprisingly complex tasks, from navigating around obstacles to hitting a ball precisely. “This was the first demonstration of real-time, reconfigurable, automated control over a light-responsive material for a soft robotic arm,” said Elizabeth Blackert, a Rice doctoral alumna and first author. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/robotic-arm-octopus-laser-beams

MIT builds brain for drones as new algorithm lets UAVs outsmart storms on the fly

(Interesting Engoneering – 10 June 2025) MIT researchers have developed a new machine-learning-based adaptive control algorithm for autonomous drones. The new algorithm was designed to help it mitigate the unpredictable effects of sudden wind gusts. Society is increasingly dependent on drones for things such as emergency first response and critical deliveries. However, drones are more susceptible to going off course in windy conditions compared to traditional aircraft due to their smaller size. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/algorithm-safeguards-drones-from-destructive-weather

China’s AlphaBot2 humanoid robot with first full-embodied AI works at auto factory

(Interesting Engineering – 10 June 2025) A general-purpose humanoid robot has been deployed in an automotive factory in China, advancing efforts towards intelligent manufacturing. According to a Chinese news outlet, developed by Shenzhen-based AI² Robotics, the AlphaBot2 robot is now performing a range of tasks, including quality inspection, assembly, logistics, and maintenance. The deployment also represents the first full-scenario validation of a domestically developed embodied AI model in China’s automotive sector. – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/china-humanoid-robot-work-auto-factory

Amazon boosts AI infrastructure with $20B investment

(DigWatch – 10 June 2025) Amazon has announced a massive $20 billion investment to build two new AI-focused data centres in Pennsylvania. The exact locations are yet to be finalised, but Salem Township and Falls Township are currently leading candidates. The move signals Amazon’s ongoing commitment to expanding its AI infrastructure amid an increasingly competitive technology race. – https://dig.watch/updates/amazon-boosts-ai-infrastructure-with-20b-investment

Hong Kong builds AI tool for breast cancer diagnosis

(DigWatch – 10 June 2025) Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology have unveiled a pioneering AI model called MOME for non-invasive breast cancer diagnosis. Using China’s largest multiparametric MRI breast cancer dataset, MOME performs at a level comparable to seasoned radiologists and is currently undergoing clinical trials in more than ten hospitals. – https://dig.watch/updates/hong-kong-builds-ai-tool-for-breast-cancer-diagnosis

Qualcomm to acquire Alphawave for $2.4 billion

(DigWatch – 10 June 2025) Qualcomm has agreed to acquire London-listed semiconductor firm Alphawave for approximately $2.4 billion in cash, aiming to strengthen its position in AI and data centre technologies. Alphawave shares surged 23% in London trading following the announcement. The deal, offering 183 pence per share, represents a 96% premium over Alphawave’s share price at the end of March. Regulatory and shareholder approvals are still required, with the transaction expected to close in early 2026. – https://dig.watch/updates/qualcomm-to-acquire-alphawave-for-2-4-billion

Samsung pilots AI coding tool Cline for internal developers

(DigWatch – 10 June 2025) Samsung Electronics is testing a new open-source AI coding assistant called Cline, which is expected to be adopted by its Device eXperience (DX) division as early as next month, according to Yonhap News Agency. Cline leverages Claude 3.7 Sonnet’s advanced agentic coding capabilities to autonomously handle complex software development tasks. The goal is to significantly boost developer productivity across Samsung’s mobile and home appliance units, which are both part of the DX division. – https://dig.watch/updates/samsung-pilots-ai-coding-tool-cline-for-internal-developers