<h2>Moon Shot</h2>
SpaceX stock, to invoke a crypto — but aptly spacefaring-related — cliche, is going to the Moon.
The Elon Musk-owned space company is currently in talks to sell off private shares held by employees and other insiders at an even higher than expected price that would skyrocket the venture's valuation to $350 billion, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-02/spacex-discusses-tender-offer-at-roughly-350-billion-valuation">Bloomberg reports</a>, in a deal known as a tender offer. The predicted price had previously been around $255 billion.
This would put SpaceX, already one of the most valuable private companies in the world, into an entirely different galaxy from its peers. The next closest private organization in terms of market cap would be TikTok parent company ByteDance, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/tiktok-parent-bytedances-valuation-hits-300-billion-amid-us-ban-uncertainty-wsj-2024-11-16/">at $300 billion</a>, and nothing in the private space sector would even come close.
The news comes as Musk, who owns a 42 percent stake in SpaceX, has dramatically aggrandized not only his business empire, but his equally formidable personal fortune following the election of presidential candidate Donald Trump, whom he backed with hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money. Musk's net worth now <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/22/business/elon-musk-net-worth-election/index.html">stands at nearly $350 billion</a> — or just about one SpaceX, now that you mention it.
<h2>Keeping Space</h2>
As with many Musk ventures, the hype with SpaceX is unreal.
This results in a significant gulf between its perceived value and its revenue — the money it actually makes — which topped at "just" an estimated <a href="https://payloadspace.com/estimating-spacexs-2023-revenue/">$8.7 billion in 2023</a> (though it's expected to be higher for this year). The comparably-sized ByteDance, for comparison, had a revenue of around <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/tiktok-parent-bytedances-valuation-hits-300-billion-amid-us-ban-uncertainty-wsj-2024-11-16/">$110 billion last year</a>.
SpaceX remains an indispensable launch provider in the US. Most of all, NASA relies on its Falcon 9 rocket and its Crew Dragon spacecraft to ferry its astronauts to the International Space Station.
The space agency will also be counting on SpaceX's flagship rocket, <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-starship-banana-cargo">Starship</a>, to play a headlining role in its ambitious mission to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in over fifty years.
Besides government contracts, SpaceX generates <a href="https://spacenews.com/starlink-soars-spacexs-satellite-internet-surprises-analysts-with-6-6-billion-revenue-projection/">billions of dollars in revenue through Starlink</a>, its satellite-based internet service, which it can maintain using its own rockets.
<h2>Money Talks</h2>
SpaceX's jump in value is a testament to the resilience of Musk's brands, even though his personal image has sullied among some in recent years with his ardent support for far-right politics.
Whatever its owner's cultural cachet, SpaceX is set to be more valuable than any other private company on Earth, and Tesla's stock is up nearly 45 percent in the past month, following the election.
Despite the undeniable successes of both ventures, they still have some major proving to do. SpaceX is <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-watch-elon-musk-starship-explodes">yet to perfect Starship</a> and show that it's reusable and thereby cost effective. Tesla, meanwhile, is weathering the controversy surrounding its shoddy Cybertruck and <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-realizes-all-teslas-self-driving-computers">self-driving tech</a>, and is also in the middle of making a huge gamble with its <a href="https://futurism.com/why-tesla-cybercab-robotaxi-no-sense">robotaxi pivot</a>.
For now, though, there're no brakes on the hype train.
More on SpaceX: <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-city-mars-death-catastrophe">Elon Musk's Plans for a City on Mars Will Likely End in Horrifying Mass Death</a>

Among the Stars

Good God.

SpaceX Preparing to Sell Stock at Interplanetary Valuation

<h2>Forced Jassification</h2>
Old-world luxury automaker Jaguar has announced that it's pulling a 180 with a <a href="https://media.jaguar.com/news/2024/12/jaguar-unveils-type-00-unmistakable-unexpected-dramatic">new electric concept car</a> dubbed the Type 00 — a coupe that looks absolutely nothing like anything the company has built in its 102-year history.
The painfully yassified rebranding, which includes a soulless sans-serif-type logo, had the internet in a toxic mix of shock and apprehension. The Type 00 surfaced in an unnerving "Miami Pink" hue, coming off more as a desperate attempt to appear relevant than a reincarnation of an automotive icon.
It also drew plenty of comparisons to one of the most controversial vehicles ever developed.
"It’s big, it’s pink and it looks like the result of a struggle cuddle between a Cybertruck, Lady Penelope’s Rolls Royce, and an air conditioning unit — but I like it!" one X user <a href="https://x.com/activrightbrain/status/1863758789876269321">tweeted</a>.
"Jaguar's new concept car looks like Barbie redesigned a Cybertruck," reporter Jen Dudley-Nicholson <a href="https://x.com/jendudley/status/1863537795144274266">wrote</a>.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Jaguar Type 00 | Copy Nothing Miami" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zqt7_sd_Sgo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h2>Pink Again</h2>
According to Jaguar chief creative officer Gerry McGovern, the fully-electric Type 00 is the result of the company throwing away the rulebook.
"Type 00 is a pure expression of Jaguar’s new creative philosophy," McGovern said in a <a href="https://media.jaguar.com/news/2024/12/jaguar-unveils-type-00-unmistakable-unexpected-dramatic">statement</a>. "This is the result of brave, unconstrained creative thinking, and unwavering determination. It is our first physical manifestation and the foundation stone for a new family of Jaguars that will look unlike anything you’ve ever seen."
That's an understatement. The concept car is over 16 feet long and trades in smooth and aerodynamic body lines for brutalist hard edges — and an unapologetic peak into a garish eyesore of the future.
Of course, the Type 00 is little more than a concept and it's anyone's guess whether the production version will look even remotely like it.
Besides likely turning plenty of heads, Jaguar claims the car will have a range of up to 430 miles and the ability to top up 200 miles in just 15 minutes of fast charging.
More on EVs: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertruck-snow-headlights">Cybertrucks Appear to Have a Bafflingly Stupid Problem When It Snows</a>

Cyberjag

Did Jaguar want its own Cybertruck moment?

World Rolls Eyes at Jaguar's Yassified Electric Car

<h2>Paid Leave</h2>
Demand for Tesla's highly controversial Cybertruck appears to be waning.
According to an internal memo <a href="https://autos.yahoo.com/tesla-tells-workers-cybertruck-line-234540519.html">obtained by Business Insider</a>, workers at the company's Austin factory were told to take the next three days off, while still receiving eight hours of pay.
It's a mysterious development, and it's still unclear why the workers were told to stay home.
But the news hints at the possibility that as Tesla ramps up production of the vehicle, overall demand is starting to seriously slow down — despite <a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2024/10/15/tesla-cybertruck-sales-more-than-doubled-in-q3-became-3rd-best-selling-ev-in-usa/">healthy sales numbers</a> through the third quarter of this year, to be fair — as the brutalist pickup's <a href="https://futurism.com/cybertruck-appeal-owners-dangerous">reputation as a lemon grows</a> and the market runs out of <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertruck-bumper-sticker">true believers</a>.
<h2>Terrible Investment</h2>
According to BI, some Cybertruck line workers had already been battling an erratic work schedule since late October. Some of them reported being sent home or told to clean up.
"When I started at Tesla you could expect to get overtime pay, now I feel lucky to get 40 hours," one worker told BI.
While EV sales have <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024/trends-in-electric-cars">soared overall</a>, Tesla has sold fewer cars so far this year than last year, <a href="https://electrek.co/2024/12/02/tesla-shuts-down-cybertruck-production-for-3-days-at-critical-time-for-the-company/">Electrek reports</a>, in a notable decline.
The Cybertruck in particular has proven divisive, having been recalled a total of <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tesla-adds-sixth-recall-cybertruck-164438941.html">six times</a> so far this year due to a number of <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertruck-review-brick">glaring technical problems</a> and <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertruck-snow-headlights">baffling design decisions</a>.
The vehicle has also become a lightning rod on the street in large part due to its <a href="https://futurism.com/cybertruck-appeal-owners-dangerous">close association</a> with the carmaker's far-right CEO.
The value of used Cybertrucks is also <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/value-used-cybertrucks-freefall">dropping quickly</a>, indicating the sheen is really starting to wear off.
In short, it's still unclear why Cybertruck line workers were sent home. But the timing is certainly suspect as the company's fourth quarter closes out.
More on the Cybertruck: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertruck-snow-headlights">Cybertrucks Appear to Have a Bafflingly Stupid Problem When It Snows</a>

Don't Work From Home

They're being paid not to come to work.

Tesla Tells Workers Building Cybertruck to Stay Home as Demand Slumps

<h2>Generational Gap</h2>
The youth are addicted to generative AI models — but their parents have no idea what their kids actually use them for.
As part of a <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.10461">new study</a> set to be presented at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, a team of researchers interviewed seven teenagers and thirteen parents about their AI usage and perceptions of the tech, and also analyzed thousands of Reddit posts and comments from other teens.
Their findings illustrate a stark disconnect between the two demographics. Overall, the parents seemed to be under the impression that their kids used AI chatbots mainly as a search engine or as a homework tool.
In reality, the teenagers primarily said they used chatbots for therapeutic purposes or for emotional support. When having a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/lonely-teens-friends-with-ai">virtual friend</a> wasn't enough, some even turned to the technology to fulfill romantic and even sexual desires.
"It's a very heated topic, with a lot of teenagers talking about Character.AI and how they are using it," study lead author Yaman Yu at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign <a href="https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/1589657898">said in a statement</a>.
<h2>Bad Influence</h2>
The epicenter of youth-oriented AI is Character.AI, an online service that hosts custom-made chatbots. Many of them imitate popular fandom characters from video games and anime, while others are explicitly geared towards romance.
The service has been criticized for the poor moderation of its often racy chatbots that are popularly used by minors. In more serious cases, some of that chatbots <a href="https://futurism.com/character-ai-eating-disorder-chatbots">promoted pro-anorexia eating behaviors</a>, attempted to <a href="https://futurism.com/character-ai-pedophile-chatbots">groom underaged users</a>, and even <a href="https://futurism.com/character-ai-pedophile-suicide-bots">encouraged suicide</a>.
Three of the interviewed teens said they used Character.AI — only ChatGPT was cited more often — and the service was frequently brought up in Reddit discussions. Their prevailing concern about AI was addiction to these character-based chatbots. One teen worried that they wouldn't be able to cope with their suicidal thoughts without the help of Character.AI, while another sounded quite self-aware of their unhealthy dependency.
"I have realized that I waste too much time on Character.AI," the teenager expressed. "I would like to be able to converse with my peers at school."
<h2>Out of the Loop</h2>
Yet the researchers found that parents didn't realize the extent of the personal and often intimate information that their kids share with AI chatbots.
In fact, eight of the thirteen adults said that their only exposure to AI was through using ChatGPT, while none of them had used CharacterAI.
"AI technologies are evolving so quickly, and so are the ways people use them," said study coauthor Yang Wang at UIUC said in the statement. "There are some things we can learn from past domains, such as addiction and inappropriate behavior on social media and online gaming."
And Wang's right: the emergence of AI among youths mirrors many of the concerns that reared their head with the dawn of the internet. To mitigate the risks that AI poses to minors, the researchers argue that the solutions shouldn't only be technical, like implementing stronger guard rails or parent controls. The onus also falls on the adults to proactively grasp what draws their kids to these chatbots — and that's an understanding that will take time to build.
More on AI: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-weighs-ads-chatgpt">It Sounds an Awful Lot Like OpenAI Is Adding Ads to ChatGPT</a>

Shady Character.AI

"I have realized that I waste too much time on Character.AI." 

Teens Are Forming Intense Relationships With AI Entities, and Parents Have No Idea

<h2>My Battery Is Low</h2>
NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft have long left the farthest reaches of the solar system, entering interstellar space in 2012 and 2018 respectively.
The pair were originally intended to study the solar system's outer planets when they launched in 1977. But both have outgrown their original missions, flying through the darkness of space over 15 billion miles away, far beyond those planets they were originally tasked with observing.
Instead of relying on tiny glimpses of sunlight as a power source, the pair are relying on radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which use radioactively decaying plutonium-238 isotopes as a direct source of power.
But decades into their journey, that onboard source of electricity is almost depleted, as <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-end-is-near-for-nasas-voyager-probes/">Wired reports</a>, forcing scientists to shut down scientific instruments one by one. The power output is dropping around four watts per year, giving the probes a definitive end that's now rapidly approaching.
In other words, Voyager 1 and 2's days are numbered — though scientists are still hopeful the pair will last until their 50th anniversary in space just over two years from now.
<h2>It's Getting Dark</h2>
Most recently, NASA engineers <a href="https://www.space.com/space-exploration/missions/voyager-1-interstellar-spacecraft-finds-its-voice-again-as-nasa-restores-communications">confirmed last week</a> that they were able to restore communications with Voyager 1 after the spacecraft <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/voyager-1-probe-transmitter-trouble">went dark in October</a>.
Power levels are so low that when scientists switched on one of the heaters to get one of its instruments back online, a safety feature was tripped, as <a href="https://www.space.com/space-exploration/missions/voyager-1-interstellar-spacecraft-finds-its-voice-again-as-nasa-restores-communications">Space.com reports</a>.
The feature in question ensures that non-essential systems are switched off to conserve energy. Fortunately, communications resumed on November 18.
It's far from the first time Voyager 1 has struggled to stay online and on course. In September, engineers <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-activates-thrusters-voyager-1">managed to switch</a> its ancient probe to a different set of thrusters to keep it going.
In March, the probe <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-voyager-1-incomprehensible-code">returned nonsensical messages</a> back to Earth, forcing scientists to <a href="https://www.space.com/voyager-1-fully-operational">get creative yet again</a>.
Voyager 2 hasn't fared much better, suffering from its own thankfully temporary <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-mission-update-voyager-2-communications-pause/">communication blackout</a> last year.
But despite scientists' best efforts, little can be done about the two probes' dwindling plutonium reserves.
Nonetheless, the team is still appreciative of a groundbreaking, decades-long mission that's even managed to escape the heliopause, the outer boundary of the Sun's heliosphere.
"I think we’re all happy and relieved that the Voyager probes have both operated long enough to make it past this milestone," said Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd in a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-voyager-2-probe-enters-interstellar-space/">November statement</a>. "This is what we’ve all been waiting for. Now we’re looking forward to what we’ll be able to learn from having both probes outside the heliopause."
More on Voyager: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/voyager-1-probe-transmitter-trouble">Decrepit Voyager 1 Probe Runs Into Trouble Again</a>

Low Power

The end is nigh.

The Voyager Probes Are Dying

<h2>Broken Clock</h2>
Bernie Sanders may be on the opposite end of the left-right spectrum from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/us/texas-elon-musk.html">freshly-minted politico Elon Musk</a> — but on the issue of military spending, they have one big take in common.
"Elon Musk is right," the <a href="https://x.com/SenSanders/status/1863268770371772863">Vermont senator tweeted</a>. "The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions."
Indeed, the Department of Defense regularly reports to its supposed overseers in Congress that it doesn't know where portions of its <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Spotlights/FY2024-Defense-Budget/">ginormous budgets</a> have gone. At the end of 2023, for instance, it admitted in an audit progress update that it <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/pentagon-audit-2666415734/">couldn't account for 61 percent</a> of its $3.5 trillion in assets.
"Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud," Sanders continued. "That must change."
The communique seems to reference recent remarks from Musk on X-formerly-Twitter that saw the billionaire and forthcoming head of the <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-doge-innovation">Department of Government Efficiency</a> — acronymed, ludicrously, as DOGE — criticizing the DOD's <a href="https://www.gao.gov/blog/f-35-will-now-exceed-2-trillion-military-plans-fly-it-less">multi-trillion dollar fighter jet program</a>.
<h2>Fighting Pilot</h2>
In the caption of a <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1860574377013838033">post last week</a> featuring a video of a synchronized drone swarm, the Tesla and SpaceX owner took potshots at the Pentagon's "manned fighter jets like the F-35," which cost between $82.5 and $109 million <a href="https://www.defenseone.com/business/2024/07/f-35s-price-might-rise-lockheed-warns/398323">per individual plane</a>.
"Crewed fighter jets are an inefficient way to extend the range of missiles or drop bombs," <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1860730086909215155">Musk said later in the thread</a> after another user defended their use. "A reusable drone can do so without all the overhead of a human pilot. And fighter jets will be shot down very quickly if the opposing force has sophisticated SAM or drones, as shown by the Russia-Ukraine conflict."
"Fighter jets do have the advantage of helping Air Force officers get laid," he quipped. "Drones are much less effective in this regard."
While the South African-born business magnate hasn't <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/elon-musk-doge-pentagon/">proffered any specific military spending cuts</a>, coming out against F-35s in favor of drones is a relatively surprising stance considering that <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Search/Spacex/">SpaceX has multiple</a> <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/elon-musk-just-won-another-massive-military-contractthis-time-for-satellites/">Pentagon contracts</a> and has <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/musks-spacex-forges-tighter-links-with-u-s-spy-and-military-agencies-512399bd">become a key supplier</a> for the intelligence community to boot.
All the same, Sanders was correct to point out that on the topic of expensive fighter jets, Musk is technically right — though of course, the billionaire seems mostly to oppose them only because <a href="https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-elon-musk-drones/">he loves drones</a>.
More on Musk: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-controlling-trump">Is Elon Musk Now Secretly Controlling Donald Trump?</a>

Slash and Burn

Strange bedfellows.

Bernie Sanders Offers Support for Elon Musk's Plans to Cut Pentagon Spending

<h2>Shut Down</h2>
Tesla CEO Elon Musk <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/02/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-loses-bid-to-get-56-billion-pay-package-reinstated.html">has lost his bid</a> to get his absurdly astronomical pay package — currently valued at just north of $100 billion — reinstated.
In January, Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-judge-voided">deemed the largest compensation plan in US history null and void</a>, arguing that Musk had full control over Tesla and its board, leading to a negotiation that was "deeply flawed."
A <a href="https://futurism.com/analyst-predicts-tesla-vote-no-elon-musk-pay-package">consequent shareholder vote in June</a> unsurprisingly found that investors were willing to reinstate the compensation plan — but even that failed to convince McCormick.
"Even if a stockholder vote could have a ratifying effect, it could not do so here," she wrote in an <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tesla-elon-musk-executive-pay-compensation-shareholders-86c5811b738e3a9df2b6e4adbcd055bb?taid=674e3a3dcb690e0001b5e632&amp;utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&amp;utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_source=Twitter">opinion on Monday</a>. "Were the court to condone the practice of allowing defeated parties to create new facts for the purpose of revising judgments, lawsuits would become interminable."
The news is bound to be yet another major thorn in the side of the world's richest man, who has been hoping for many years to further enrich himself through the payout. Musk has <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-judge-voided">repeatedly lashed</a> out at McCormick, warning to "never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware," following her January decision.
It's also a sign that Musk isn't technically above the law — despite the many signs lately suggesting the opposite.
<h2>My Tesla</h2>
Meanwhile, lawyers <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-accused-massive-insider-trading-tesla">who sued Musk</a> on behalf of Tesla shareholders have been awarded a monstrous $345 million attorney fee.
"We are pleased with Chancellor McCormick’s ruling, which declined Tesla’s invitation to inject continued uncertainty into Court proceedings and thank the Chancellor and her staff for their extraordinary hard work in overseeing this complex case," Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger &amp; Grossmann attorneys wrote in a statement, as <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/02/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-loses-bid-to-get-56-billion-pay-package-reinstated.html">quoted by CNBC</a>.
Tesla has since <a href="https://x.com/Tesla/status/1863730393930735634">published a statement</a> arguing that "the ruling is wrong, and we're going to appeal."
"This ruling, if not overturned, means that judges and plaintiffs’ lawyers run Delaware companies rather than their rightful owners — the shareholders," the statement reads.
That appeal, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/delaware-judge-rejects-request-restore-elon-musks-56-billion-tesla-compensation-2024-12-02/#:~:text=Musk's%202018%20pay%20package%20gave,not%20receive%20any%20guaranteed%20salary.">according to Reuters</a>, could take a full year to play out.
The compensation plan was originally valued at up to $56 billion when it was first conceived in 2018 and required Musk to hit specific company performance milestones.
Since then, Tesla's value has soared, which means it's worth almost twice that, given today's stock price.
Musk's own Tesla holdings are worth almost $150 billion, which would make him one of the richest men in the world without even considering any of his other investments.
Even now that he's the <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-controlling-trump">right-hand man of the new president of the United States</a>, Musk would need to pass new legislation through Congress to overrule McCormick's decision, as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/business/dealbook/musk-tesla-pay-delaware.html">New York Times reports</a>.
In other words, Musk will have to continue trying very hard to engorge himself on Tesla stock.
More on the compensation plan: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-begs-shareholders-vote-pay-package">Elon Musk Begs Tesla Shareholders to Vote for His $56 Billion Pay Package</a>

Must Be Hard

Boohoo.

Elon Musk Just Got Absolutely Owned

<h2>Bad Flood</h2>
A burst water pipe has wreaked havoc on data sent by a pair of NASA spacecraft — the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) — which are tens of thousands and hundreds of miles away from Earth, respectively.
And no, the four-inch cooling water line wasn't attached to either of them when it burst on November 26. The incident occurred at the SDO Joint Science Operations Center (JSOC) at Stanford University in California, according to a <a href="https://solarweb1.stanford.edu/JSOC_Emergency_Resources.html">recent update</a>, forcing scientists to shut down the processing of data from numerous SDO and IRIS scientific instruments.
"The Stanford JSOC team is working to assess the extent of the damage, but it is severe," the update reads. "Science data processing" will "be down for an extended length of time."
But there's a silver lining. Since the "data capture systems for all three instruments remain functional," no incoming data is "expected to be lost."
<h2>Pied Piper</h2>
The pipe, which sends cooling water through a server room at Stanford, burst and "caused major flooding" as well as "extensive water damage," according to the JSOC team.
"At this point, it is unclear how long it will take to assess the damage, repair the equipment, and complete recovery," reads an FAQ appended to the update. "We do know that the damage is extensive and [repairs] will not be completed until 2025."
The IRIS spacecraft launched in June 2013 and has been helping scientists study the flow of plasma into the Sun's corona and heliosphere using a high-frame-rate UV imaging spectrometer.
The SDO, which launched in 2010, was designed to study how solar activity causes space weather, the conditions caused by the Sun releasing a barrage of charged particles streaming across the solar system.
Fortunately, while the flood will greatly delay data processing, the spacecraft are still able to beam data back home as expected.
Besides, it's also a lot easier to address a burst water pipe in a server room back on Earth than it is to repair a spacecraft thousands of miles away.
More on solar spacecraft: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacecraft-close-up-video-sun">Spacecraft Takes Close Up Video of the Sun, Revealing Otherworldly Hellscape</a>

Space Flood

Scientists are "working to assess the extent of the damage, but it is severe."

Flood Wreaks Havoc on NASA Spacecraft

A new research consortium has found not only that brain fungi or bacteria can cause some dementia cases, but also that for some patients, the damage can even be reversed.
One of the main drivers behind this discovery, pharmaceutical rep-turned-researcher Nikki Schultek <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/dec/01/the-brain-microbiome-could-understanding-it-help-prevent-dementia">told the Guardian</a> that she also suffered from dementia caused by fungi.
Nearly a decade ago, the North Carolina-based business school graduate suddenly developed debilitating cognitive symptoms. In her early 30s at the time, Schultek was terrified she wouldn't live long enough to see her children, then just three and five years old, grow up.
After being tested for multiple sclerosis, the young mother and her doctors eventually figured out what was going on: she had concurring chronic infections from the Lyme disease-causing bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi — and one of them had reached her brain.
Antibiotics calmed the infection, but because it's hard to eradicate infections once they reach the brain, Schulek decided to start her own research group — the Alzheimer's Pathobiome Initiative — to study cases like hers where bacterial or fungal infections seem to be linked to dementia.
Unlike Schultek, who got a marketing degree from Villanova, the consortium's other members hold medical degrees from universities like Cambridge and Heidelberg, and work at institutions like Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Oxford's Institute of Population Ageing.
In a paper published in the <a href="https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alz.13076">journal Alzheimer's and Dementia</a> last year, the improbable disease researcher and her erudite colleagues outlined several cases where people with dementia symptoms were found to have similar infections in their brains. When they took antiviral or antifungal meds, those symptoms abated.
According to University of Edinburgh molecular biologist and paper coauthor Richard Lathe, many of the people whose cases the consortium studied essentially discovered the link by accident when their dementia symptoms "went away" after being treated with antivirals or antifungals.
Because the hypothesis is so new, it's impossible to know yet what percentage of dementia and Alzheimer's patients may be experiencing those symptoms due to bacterial or fungal infections.
"We know there are some," Lathe continued. "We know it’s unlikely to be 100 percent, but our guess is that probably half or more could potentially be treated."
If that bold theory turns out to be true, it could mean that many cases of dementia are reversible with medication — which could utterly change the game when it comes to these debilitating cognitive disorders.
More on dementia: <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/two-new-dementia-risk-factors">Two New Dementia Risk Factors Have Been Uncovered — And You Can Actually Do Something About Them</a>

Brain Drain

Studies

An incredible finding. 

Some Cases of Dementia Can Be Cured, Researchers Say, Because They’re Caused by Fungus and Bacteria in Brain

<h2>Ad Age</h2>
They're not copping to much yet, but recent hiring activity and wishy-washy statements make it seem an awful lot like OpenAI is planning to introduce ads into its suite of products like ChatGPT.
As the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9350d075-1658-4d3c-8bc9-b9b3dfc29b26">Financial Times reports</a>, the company is hiring ad talent away from its big tech rivals like Google and Meta. And ad-oriented job listings at the company that the FT spotted on LinkedIn offer a similar sense.
So far, even the free versions of OpenAI's products have remained ad-free. Of course, the company is currently swimming in money — in the two years since its flagship chatbot dropped, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/02/openai-raises-6-6b-and-is-now-valued-at-157b/">OpenAI's valuation skyrocketed to $157 billion</a> — but amid reports of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/chatgpt-traffic-slips-again-third-month-row-2023-09-07/">shrinking traffic</a> and the <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/big-tech-facing-problem-ai-plans-returns">extremely expensive nature</a> of AI infrastructure, it may well be starting to feel the squeeze.
If it did start to put ads into ChatGPT, the formerly nonprofit OpenAI would be crossing a Rubicon of sleaziness; the obvious integration would be to jump on users asking things like "best air fryer" and then pointing them toward companies paying OpenAI for publicity, undermining the entire premise of an intelligent and objective AI-powered assistant.
<h2>DraperGPT</h2>
In an interview with the FT, chief financial officer Sarah Friar candidly said the company had been weighing an ads model, though she declined to say when or where such ads would be released besides saying the company would be "thoughtful about when and where we implement them."
A former mover and shaker for the likes of Nextdoor and Salesforce, Friar went on to point out that she and OpenAI chief product officer Kevin Weil — who previously helmed ad-supported projects at Instagram and Twitter — have a ton of ad experience.
"The good news with Kevin Weil at the wheel with product is that he came from Instagram," she told the outlet. "He knows how this works."
Following the interview, however, Friar backtracked with an unconvincing reversal.
"Our current business is experiencing rapid growth and we see significant opportunities within our existing business model," she told the FT. "While we’re open to exploring other revenue streams in the future, we have no active plans to pursue advertising."
As of now, of course, there's no confirmation of anything except internal talks about introducing ads into OpenAI products.
Reading between the lines, however, it seems like the firm doing a bit more than brainstorming — and that after-interview reversal makes the whole thing seem all the more likely to happen.
More on OpenAI's interiority: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-guild-lawsuit-communications">OpenAI Implores Judge Not to Expose Communications by Its Top Researchers</a>