These are the articles that caught the eye of TechCenral’s editorial team in the past 24 hours.
- New study explores AI in developing antibiotics with less side-effects: In general, illness-causing bacteria are not interested in dying – go figure! Some of these buggers develop resistance to antibiotic medication, necessitating the development of even stronger antibiotics with more adverse side effects. Now AI is being used to create effective antibiotics while minimising collateral. Read more on Healthline. NN
- The mind-bending mirrors behind advanced technology: The world’s largest optical telescope – aptly named the Extremely Large Telescope, or ELT, is being built at the cost of US$1.4-billion in the Atacama Desert in Chile. At 39m wide, the ELT makes use of some of the largest mirrors in the world. Read more about who makes them and how on BBC News. NN
- Astrophysicists may have found the source of mysterious Wow! signal: Physicists may have finally uncovered the source of the mysterious 1977 “Wow!” signal. The culprit? A massive hydrogen cloud shining brightly in space. After nearly five decades of speculation about alien origins, it turns out the signal might have a more ordinary explanation. Read more on Gizmodo. DM
- iPhone 16 Pro’s new colour could be called ‘Desert Titanium’: Apple is spicing up the iPhone 16 Pro line-up with a new “Desert Titanium” colour, which – let’s face facts – is a fancy way of saying “bronze”. It’s a replacement for the previous Blue Titanium colourway. While the colour palette shift might be thrilling for some, it seems more like Apple’s way of ensuring you buy this year’s model just to stay “in style”. Read more on 9to5Mac. DM
- The Pentagon is planning a drone ‘hellscape’ to defend Taiwan: The article discusses the US’s preparation for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The US military’s response, as outlined by Admiral Samuel Paparo, involves deploying massive drone swarms across land, sea and air to create a “hellscape” in the Taiwan Strait. The strategy aims to delay a Chinese attack long enough for the US and its allies to bolster their defences. Read more on Wired (soft paywall). DM
- Digitally resurrecting actors is still a terrible idea: Hollywood has a fixation on using CGI to de-age or resurrect actors. The only problem is it looks noticeable and terrible no matter how close they get to the real thing. Read more on TechCrunch. TS
Top stories on TechCentral in the last 24 hours
- Internet giants must ‘pay to play’ in South Africa
- A brief history of AI: how we got here; where we’re going
- Mpox is ‘not the new Covid’
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