Thursday, October 8, 2026

What’s in a name? Moderna’s “vaccine” vs. “therapy” dilemma

Is it the Department of Defense or the Department of War? The Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of America? A vaccine—or an “individualized neoantigen treatment”? That’s the Trump-era vocabulary paradox facing Moderna, the covid-19 shot maker whose plans for next-generation mRNA vaccines against flus and emerging pathogens have been dashed by vaccine skeptics in…

The Download: AstroTurf wars and exponential AI growth

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Is fake grass a bad idea? The AstroTurf wars are far from over.  In 2001, Americans installed just over 7 million square meters of synthetic turf. By 2024, that number was 79 million square meters—enough to carpet all of Manhattan and then some. The…

Constellations

I. We had crash-landed on the planet. We were far from home. The spaceship could not be repaired, and the rescue beacon had failed. Besides me, only the astrogator, part of the captain, and the ship’s AI mind were left.  Outside, the atmosphere registered as hostile to most organisms. We huddled in the lifeboat, which…

Trump’s Iran threats renew debate over war crimes, illegal orders

President Donald Trump’s threats to destroy power plants and bridges in Iran before saying he was prepared for a “whole civilization” to die have renewed questions about what constitutes an illegal order and what, if any, repercussions officials could face for committing war crimes.   The issue originally surged to the forefront last year when the…

‘Everyone wants a spaceplane’: More countries eye on-orbit protection for satellites

More countries want to develop military spaceplanes and “bodyguard satellites," like those of the United States and China, to protect orbital assets against growing threats, according to a new report. Last year alone, France’s direction générale de l'armement, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Defence, Japan’s Ministry of Defense, and the Indian Space Research Organisation have all…

‘Hybrid constellations’ are making it hard for militaries to hide

A planned satellite constellation will be able to image any location on Earth every 15 minutes and take more detailed images, a novel capability that could reveal even the nimblest and stealthiest military maneuvers, its developer says. On Thursday, Vantor announced plans to enlarge its current fleet of 10 satellites “five-fold” with spacecraft that will…