All posts tagged: existing

SpaceX blocked from early US benchmark index entry as S&P reaffirms existing rules

SpaceX blocked from early US benchmark index entry as S&P reaffirms existing rules

Published by Sam Flores

June 4 : S&P Global said on Thursday it was not changing the requirements for entry into its major indices, dealing a setback to Elon Musk’s SpaceX by effectively ruling out a swift entry for the world’s biggest-ever IPO into the benchmark S&P 500 index. Musk has rewritten the IPO playbook for ⁠SpaceX in many ways from planning to give retail investors a bigger role in allocations to pushing for early index inclusion, and structuring governance to preserve strong founder ​control. The company is raising $75 billion and targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation that would place it among the top 10 most valuable U.S.-listed firms, even as only a fraction of its shares are available for trading. But S&P said “exceptions to the financial viability, seasoning, and IWF (investable weight factor) requirements should not be granted solely based on market capitalization”. To be included in the S&P 500, a company must be profitable under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in its most recent quarter as well as for the sum of its most recent four quarters, …

The Ordinary Miracle of Existing

The Ordinary Miracle of Existing

Published by Daniella Wilson

On the northwestern shore of Africa, some 150 miles south of the Canary Islands, the coastline slightly bulges in a pimple known as Cape Bojador. For Europeans in the early 15th century, Cape Bojador marked the boundary between the known and the unknown. North of the cape was civilization and the cities of light. South were the mystical lands of Africa and the Mare Tenebrosum, the “Sea of Darkness.” Ancient notions, dating back to Ptolemy, claimed that Africa was surrounded by boiling seas filled with giant creatures, whirlpools, and perpetual darkness. No sailor had ventured south of Cape Bojador and returned. The challenge was taken up by Prince Henry of Portugal. Between 1424 and 1434, he sent 14 ship expeditions to round the perilous cape. None succeeded. All turned back from fear or foul weather. Yet the unknown beckoned. Undeterred, Henry dispatched the explorer Gils Eannes for a 15th attempt. This time, Henry’s man succeeded in rounding the cape, giving it a wide berth and steering far to the west. As he turned south, Eannes …

Republicans discuss boosting existing spy powers guardrails as FISA compromise

Republicans discuss boosting existing spy powers guardrails as FISA compromise

Published by Sam Flores

Republicans are discussing a year-long renewal of the nation’s warrantless spy powers in exchange for strengthening current aspects of the law, multiple sources involved in the talks told The Hill. Such a package would scale back the 18-month timeline requested by President Trump in renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA), which… Source link

‘Experts at hand’ cash must not plug ‘existing gaps’

‘Experts at hand’ cash must not plug ‘existing gaps’

Published by skeptic

Funding for a new scheme aimed at bolstering external support for pupils with SEND must not be used to “fill existing gaps or replace current provision”, councils have been warned. Town halls will also be forbidden from spending the cash on support named in children’s existing education health care plans (EHCPs) or on provision that should be delivered by schools. Leaders will also be expected to devise an approach that ensures support is not “disproportionately accessed by the most proactive schools”. As part of its white paper reforms, the government announced the creation of a new “experts at hand” service, backed with £1.8 billion in funding over three years. The service aims to boost availability of external support. Schools can then draw from a pool of education and health professionals to fix the current “inconsistent and limited access” to their services. The Department for Education has now published guidance on how the funding and an additional £200 million “transformation” pot will be allocated and how it must be spent. Funding can’t cover support named in …

How to build a digital ‘twin’ of the human brain – what existing models overlook

How to build a digital ‘twin’ of the human brain – what existing models overlook

Published by skeptic

The potential to create personalised digital “twins” of your brain and body is a hot topic in neuroscience and medicine today. These computer models are designed to simulate how parts of your brain interact, and how the brain may respond to stimulation, disease or medication. The extraordinary complexity of the brain’s billions of neurons makes this a very difficult task, of course, even in the era of AI and big data. Until now, whole-brain models have struggled to capture what makes each brain unique. People’s brains are all wired slightly differently, so everyone has a unique network of neural connections that represents a kind of “brain fingerprint”. However, most so-called brain twins are currently more like distant cousins. Their performance is barely any closer to the real thing than if the model were using the wiring diagram of a random stranger. This matters because digital twins are increasingly proposed as tools for testing treatments by computer simulation, before applying them to real people. If these models fail to capture fundamental principles of each patient’s unique …

New ‘vacuum ultraviolet’ laser is 100 to 1,000 times more efficient than existing tech

New ‘vacuum ultraviolet’ laser is 100 to 1,000 times more efficient than existing tech

Published by Jenni Sidey

The vacuum ultraviolet region is the area of the electromagnetic spectrum lying between X-rays and visible light. It is characterized by very short wavelengths between about 100 and 200 nanometers. For many years, it has resisted development into practical lasers using existing laser techniques due to an almost laughable limitation. Virtually everything in our environment absorbs vacuum ultraviolet radiation instead of allowing it to pass through. For example, air, materials containing organic molecules, and many solid materials absorb it. Many types of atoms also absorb vacuum ultraviolet light rather than allowing it to pass. Yet that same property provides scientists with a wealth of scientific information about the material interactions of whatever vacuum ultraviolet photons encounter. Producing sufficient quantities of vacuum ultraviolet light in an efficient and compact device for practical use has therefore always represented a challenge. Building a Vacuum Ultraviolet Laser Now, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder believe they have overcome this long-standing challenge by building a vacuum ultraviolet laser that is 100 to 1,000 times more efficient than currently available …

EU Commission rejects new abortion financing proposal, points to existing fund – POLITICO

EU Commission rejects new abortion financing proposal, points to existing fund – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The My Voice My Choice campaign group said after the decision that its priority was always “getting results for women, not the legal form.” “While no new legal instrument is being created, the Commission has formally acknowledged that the core objectives of our initiative can be achieved and outlined a concrete pathway to implement it in practice,” the group said in a statement. The group was also pleased that the existing fund can be used broadly. “We are especially happy that the mechanism would be able to be used not just for funding of the medical services, but also the cost of travel in circumstances that would be needed,” the group added. However, the group urged the Commission to support additional dedicated funding in the future, as well as give clear instructions on how countries can provide safe abortion care with EU funds and to create an information platform for patients. German MEP Christine Anderson, with the Europe of Sovereign Nations group, told POLITICO after the decision that the Commission should have made clear “from …

Researchers repurpose existing lung cancer drug to fight ovarian tumors

Researchers repurpose existing lung cancer drug to fight ovarian tumors

Published by Jenni Sidey

As is often the case with cancer treatments, many patients are able to benefit from therapy for a time. Tumor activity decreases, scans show improvement, and patient lifespans are prolonged for some period. Following this initial benefit, however, patients frequently develop resistance to treatment sooner than their physician anticipates. Researchers from Mayo Clinic are now of the opinion that this treatment failure phenomenon may result from the development of drug resistance that occurs quite quickly after the onset of therapy. Based on newly published findings, ovarian cancer cells activate a protective mechanism immediately after exposure to PARP inhibitors, a type of drug commonly used to treat ovarian cancer. By blocking the early activation of this protective mechanism, scientists demonstrated that the efficacy and duration of PARP inhibitor therapy could be improved. PARP inhibitors are currently a standard of care for high-grade serous ovarian cancer, which is the most frequent and deadliest subtype of ovarian cancer. More than half of these tumors have a defect in the DNA damage response pathway, typically involving BRCA1 or BRCA2, …

Vercel rebuilt v0 to tackle the 90% problem: Connecting AI-generated code to existing production infrastructure, not prototypes

Vercel rebuilt v0 to tackle the 90% problem: Connecting AI-generated code to existing production infrastructure, not prototypes

Published by skeptic

Before Claude Code wrote its first line of code, Vercel was already in the vibe coding space with its v0 service. The basic idea behind the original v0, which launched in 2024, was essentially to be version 0. That is, the earliest version of an application, helping developers solve the blank canvas problem.  Developers could prompt their way to a user interface (UI) scaffolding that looked good, but the code was disposable. Getting those prototypes into production required rewrites. More than 4 million people have used v0 to build millions of prototypes, but the platform was missing elements required to get into production. The challenge is a familiar one with vibe coding tools, as there is a gap in what tools provide and what enterprise builders require. Claude Code, for instance, generates backend logic and scripts effectively, but does not deploy production UIs within existing company design systems while enforcing security policies This creates what Vercel CPO Tom Occhino calls “the world’s largest shadow IT problem.” AI-enabled software creation is already happening inside every enterprise. Credentials …

Lutnick not expecting ‘upending’ of existing trade deals: ‘It’ll sort its way out’

Lutnick not expecting ‘upending’ of existing trade deals: ‘It’ll sort its way out’

Published by Sam Flores

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dismissed concerns that President Trump’s new tariffs could upend existing trade deals, saying he’s confident the disagreement with European allies over Trump’s push to acquire Greenland will “sort its way out.” In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Lutnick defended Trump’s approach… Source link