Scientists at Columbia University have edited the DNA of early human embryos with unprecedented precision, using an upgraded gene-editing method designed to avoid some of the unintended damage associated with earlier tools. The work was carried out on lab-grown embryos used for research, not implantation, but it suggests scientists may one day be able to correct disease-causing mutations before birth. The approach builds on CRISPR-Cas9, which cuts DNA at targeted points so faulty genes can be removed or replaced. The newer method, known as base editing, works more subtly by changing individual DNA letters without fully cutting the strand. That could reduce errors created during DNA repair and may help treat diseases caused by single-letter mutations. The advance also raises fresh concerns about embryo editing and its use cases.
True Spies
American Radical
How do you earn the trust of someone who might be planning violence?
On September 11, 2001, Tamer Elnoury was working undercover in New Jersey narcotics when the first reports from New York came through. He was already skilled at living under an alias, but the attacks changed the direction of his career. A proud Muslim and an experienced undercover officer, he later pushed to use his background and tradecraft in counterterrorism.
After years in local law enforcement, Elnoury was recruited into the FBI’s covert counterterrorism world. His new identity had to be convincing enough for extremist circles: wealthy, well-traveled, fluent in Arabic, and useful to anyone who needed money or access in the West. After one overseas operation, that alias had real credibility.
Then came a new target: Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian-born Ph.D. student in Canada whose contacts had raised concern. The first meeting was supposed to happen carefully, but Esseghaier ended up approaching Elnoury himself on a flight after hearing him speak Arabic. The two quickly bonded, and Elnoury began his work trying to draw out Esseghaier’s beliefs.
Join FBI agent Tamer Elnoury in this week’s podcast selection, ‘American Radical’, to go undercover and gain the trust of dangerous targets.
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Take on immersive games and challenges at SPYGAMES! Test your team's skills and strategy, compete to climb the leaderboards, and recharge with food and drink in your own private space hosted by a dedicated staff member.
Biologists at Stanford University have found a strange new immune defense in planarian flatworms: cells that burst on command. The cells, named “ruptoblasts,” release toxic chemicals when triggered, killing nearby cells in a tightly controlled blast.
Planarian flatworms are small aquatic worms known for regeneration. Cut one apart, and it can rebuild multiple bodies within weeks. During that process, the hormone activin helps the worm respond to foreign tissue. When activin triggers a ruptoblast, calcium builds along the cell’s internal structure, causing it to break open within about two minutes.
The burst, called ruptosis, can kill up to 70 nearby cells. Researchers found that ruptoblasts could destroy E. coli and human and mouse cells while keeping damage localized and avoiding lingering toxicity. The discovery could help researchers explore new ways to target bacterial infections and tumors.
For years, even the engineers building advanced AI systems have struggled to explain exactly what happens between a user’s prompt and a model’s answer. That mystery became harder to ignore as chatbots began producing confident mistakes, biased outputs, and answers difficult to trace back through the system.
Researchers are trying to open that black box. Anthropic has shown that specific patterns within an AI model can correspond to ideas, including an experiment in which activating a “Golden Gate Bridge” feature led the model to identify itself as the bridge. The moment was strange, but it offered a rare glimpse into how concepts may live inside these systems.
Real progress on transparency has come from a field called mechanistic interpretability. Instead of asking AI to explain itself, researchers study the math beneath the surface, looking for circuits and features linked to specific behaviors. Google DeepMind has also released tools to help researchers examine smaller models.
The stakes go beyond curiosity. As AI moves into hiring, lending, education, and law enforcement, regulators increasingly want systems that are auditable and explainable. Discover more about the race to read AI’s mind in this SPYSCAPE article.
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Give your party guests an unforgettable experience designed to engage, entertain, and inspire. Our dedicated staff will be on hand to help, and you'll even get your own private space to celebrate.
Archaeologists working in front of Notre Dame Cathedral have uncovered artifacts reaching back about 2,000 years, revealing traces of Roman-era Paris beneath the modern plaza. The excavation is part of a wider city project to redesign the forecourt after the 2019 fire.
The forecourt holds roughly 20 centuries of history. Notre Dame itself dates to 1163, but long before the cathedral rose, the area formed part of Lutetia, the ancient settlement that later became Paris. Over time, the cathedral was surrounded by dense medieval housing and narrow streets.
The finds include a fourth-century coin showing Constantine, the Roman emperor who ruled in the early 300s CE. Archaeologists also uncovered fragments of medieval pottery marked with symbols that have not yet been identified.
Above ground, the city plans to reshape the plaza with 160 trees, improved walkways, and more shaded areas, aiming to manage heavy visitor numbers while keeping clear views of Notre Dame’s facade.
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