TECHNOLOGY
Panic as Chernobyl’s $2 billion protective shield cracks open sparking fears of a deadly radiation leak
The dome built over the remains of the Chernobyl disaster has been damaged, raising fears it may no longer be able to contain radioactive material.
Officially known as the New Safe Confinement (NSC), the at least $2 billion protective shield was constructed over Reactor 4, which caused the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.
The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a nuclear watchdog, revealed this month that the NSC was severely damaged in a Russian drone strike in February.
The IAEA team conducted a safety assessment earlier this month, finding the dome had lost its primary safety functions, including confinement capability.
IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said: ‘Limited temporary repairs have been carried out on the roof, but timely and comprehensive restoration remains essential to prevent further degradation and ensure long-term nuclear safety.’
The inspection brought some relief, confirming that the dome’s main structure and monitoring systems remain intact.
But beneath the damaged shelter lies massive quantities of radioactive material from the 1986 disaster, making the site a ticking time bomb.
The IAEA has urged urgent repairs and upgrades to Chernobyl’s protective shelter, calling for better humidity control, advanced corrosion monitoring, and a high-tech automatic system to keep the radioactive reactor remains under control.
Nuclear watchdogs discovered this month that the dome built over the remains of the Chernobyldisaster has been damaged
It began on April 26, 1986, with the explosion of Reactor 4 that led to the largest release of radioactive material into the environment in human history
The damaged dome is the latest of several such expert missions since September last year, when the substations became increasingly affected by the military conflict.
‘These substations are essential for nuclear safety and security. They are absolutely indispensable for providing the electricity all nuclear power plants need for reactor cooling and other safety systems,’ Grossi said.
‘They are also needed to distribute the electricity that they produce to households and industry.’
In 2026, with support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Chornobyl site will undertake additional temporary repairs to support the re-establishment of the NSC’s confinement function, paving the way for full restoration once the conflict ends.
‘The IAEA – which has a team permanently at the site – will continue to do everything it can to support efforts to fully restore nuclear safety and security at the Chornobyl site,’ Grossi said in a statement.
It began on April 26, 1986, with the explosion of Reactor 4 that led to the largest release of radioactive material into the environment in human history.
Around 30 to 50 people died from immediate blast trauma or acute radiation sickness in the first few months after the disaster
Following the tragic event, humans were evacuated from Chernobyl and the surrounding areas to avoid the extreme levels of radiation.
The IAEA team conducted a safety assessment earlier this month, finding the dome had lost its primary safety functions, including confinement capability
Pictured is someone measuring levels of radioactivity in the area surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power in 1990
While long-term deaths from radiation-induced cancers are harder to quantify, the UN Chernobyl Forum estimated up to 4,000 eventual fatalities among highly exposed populations, though figures vary widely, with Greenpeace suggesting tens of thousands, highlighting the difficulty in assessing the full toll.
From then on, the site was known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ).
The absence of humans has allowed wildlife to flourish and thrive in the CEZ, which contains 11.28 millirem of radiation, six times the allowed exposure amount for human workers.
A study in 2024 found that the dogs had mutated to develop a new superpower – they are immune to radiation, heavy metals and pollution.
Scientists collected blood samples from 116 stray dogs living in the CEZ, finding two different populations that were both genetically distinct from other dogs in the surrounding area.
This suggests the animals have adapted to withstand long-term exposure to this toxic environment and would explain why they have continued to thrive in the wasteland.
Norman J Kleiman, an environmental health scientist at Columbia University, led a team of researchers to investigate how living in this harsh environment impacted the dogs’ genetics, as disasters that contaminate or destroy habitat can force wildlife to adapt to adverse environmental changes.
He and his colleagues collected blood samples from 116 ‘semi-feral’ dogs, which were humanely captured around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and 10 miles away in Chernobyl City.
These samples were taken during sterilization and vaccination procedures conducted by the Clean Futures Fund Dogs of Chernobyl program in 2018 and 2019.
Officially known as the New Safe Confinement (NSC), the at least $2 billion protective shield was constructed over Reactor 4, which caused the world’s worst nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986
The blood samples were then transported to the US for DNA extraction and analysis, which revealed the dogs’ unique genetic makeup.
‘Somehow, two small populations of dogs managed to survive in that highly toxic environment,’ Kleiman said in a statement.
‘In addition to classifying the population dynamics within these dogs . . . we took the first steps towards understanding how chronic exposure to multiple environmental hazards may have impacted these populations.’
He and his colleagues published their findings in the journal Canine Medicine and Genetics in March 2023.
Specifically, the researchers found nearly 400 ‘outlier loci,’ or genomic locations that show behavior or patterns of variation that are extremely divergent from the rest of the genome.
Then, they identified 52 genes associated with these outlier loci that ‘could be associated with exposure to the contamination of the environment at the Nuclear Power Plant,’ the study states.
In other words, the dogs’ contaminated environment caused them to develop genetic mutations that were passed down from generation to generation, ultimately driving their adaptation to the harsh conditions.
The Builders’ List means different things to different facets of the ecosystem. For us at TechCabal, the Builders’ List is an archive of the people who made consequential contributions to the African technology ecosystem this year.
How do you decide the Builders?
As evidenced above, Africa’s tech ecosystem had a stronger year than 2024, making the selection of the 2025 Builders cohort a demanding process. The list originally had over 600 names spanning all 54 countries, but by sheer grit, determination, and an inordinate amount of research, this list was reduced to 50 people.
Each builder on the list has defined 2025 tech in their own way; from Femi Aluko, whose Chowdeck has redefined how Nigerians and Africans think about food delivery in this part of the world, to Salima Bah, whose work has increased international bandwidth capacity in Sierra Leone from 90 gigabits per second (Gbps) to over 500 Gbps, laying the foundation for startups scaling.
Making the list has given the TechCabal newsroom a new way of seeing the African tech ecosystem; each person we added to the list offered a perspective on the ecosystem that we believe paints a bigger picture
There’s still a lot of work to be done in covering the ecosystem, especially for the people who work behind the scenes.
This first edition of The Builders’ List is the beginning of our annual commitment to telling more stories about the ecosystem.
As you dig into the list, we want you to think about all the different ways that African tech is now different from where it was at the beginning of the year.
Editor’s note: We said the Builders’ List would go live yesterday. It didn’t. We held publication to resolve technical glitches. Stick around on our website and across our social channels, and be the first to know when it drops.
In 2008, the World Bank published a piece titled “PayPal (not) in Africa“. The intention was to call out the fintech platform for sidelining the continent, where millions of entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small business owners desperately needed access to global payment infrastructure.
The piece highlighted a glaring absence: while anyone could set up a PayPal account in Africa, there was no way to transfer money out. No withdrawal. No receiving funds from overseas clients. Just a one-way street that left countless African professionals locked out of the global digital economy.
Sixteen years later, the frustration endures. Yet something has shifted. The company is finally talking about Africa, not as a conqueror, but as a partner that has finally accepted its limits.
The payments giant recently announced plans to launch its PayPal World platform across Africa in 2026.
Otto Williams, PayPal’s Senior Vice President, Regional Head for the Middle East and Africa, confirmed at Abu Dhabi Finance Week that the company is actively pursuing partnerships with African fintech players. This signals a dramatic reversal of decades of reluctance.
But this raises the question: why now? And perhaps more importantly, what took so long?
Why the PayPal model struggled in Africa
To understand PayPal’s long absence, you need to understand its core imperative: trust. In the early 2000s, Africa represented a high-risk proposition. The company cited disproportionately high rates of chargebacks and fraudulent transactions.
In 2004, the fintech restricted users in Ghana, Nigeria, and several other countries from receiving funds, claiming stolen credit cards from the West were being used to syphon money. Without robust national ID systems at the time, PayPal viewed the continent as an existential threat to its network integrity.
Also, its traditional model was built for Western banking, where it required users to link credit cards or bank accounts, which were not readily available to most Africans.
Compliance with anti-money laundering laws was expensive in regions where regulatory infrastructure was weak. For years, the math simply didn’t add up as the cost of building compliance outweighed the potential revenue.
Otto Williams, PayPal’s Senior Vice President, Regional Head for the Middle East and Africa
Scepticism about this new 2026 promise is high, and for good reason. The company has tried to enter Africa before with “half-measures” that often felt like PR wins rather than actual solutions.
In 2014, a partnership with First Bank of Nigeria was restricted to bank customers and was “send-only.” First Bank had said in one document: In 2021, a partnership with Flutterwave helped businesses but did little for the average person. These attempts failed because they tried to force Africans into a restricted Western banking box.
Meanwhile, since PayPal’s exit, Africa built its own world. Kenya’s M-Pesa revolutionised finance, processing KSh 39.39 trillion (around $300 billion) in Kenya alone. Today, Africa accounts for 70% of global mobile money transaction value.
Homegrown giants like Flutterwave and Paystack filled the void, solving the “last-mile” problems PayPal once deemed impossible.
The new strategy for PayPal World
The 2026 strategy for PayPal World is a quiet admission that the company cannot win the “wallet war” in Africa. Instead of trying to get you to open a PayPal account, the company is now trying to be the “bridge” for the wallet you already use.
Three fundamental shifts made this viable. First, regulatory maturity has improved with systems like Nigeria’s Bank Verification Number (BVN). Second, PayPal no longer has to build from scratch, they can partner with established giants like Safaricom and MTN.
Finally, there is economic pressure. As Western markets slow down, Africa’s young, urban population represents the last major frontier for growth.
For the average user, this is a major shift. In the past, you had to move into PayPal’s “house” and follow its strict rules. If they didn’t like your activity, they locked you out. With PayPal World, they are simply building a door between your house (like M-Pesa or MTN MoMo) and the rest of the world.
A small town sheriff has admitted he is perplexed by a series of mysterious flying objects which have been bewildering locals in his Wyoming community for more than a year.
Unidentified flying objects [UFOs] have been regularly spotted for 13 months above the Jim Bridger Power Plant and Sweetwater County’s Red Desert.
John Grossnickle, the Sheriff of Sweetwater County, saw lit-up, drone-like objects as recently as December 13, his spokesman Jason Mower told Cowboy State Daily.
Mower said they’ve worked with everyone they can possibly think of to try and solve the mystery in the sky.
‘We’ve done everything we can to figure out what they are, and nobody wants to give us any answers,’ he said.
Locals are now so accustomed to the strange sightings that the Sheriff’s office has stopped receiving calls about them, the spokesman told the outlet.
‘It’s like the new normal,’ Mower said.
He also noted that the objects are thousands of feet above the earth, making them too high to shoot from the ground.
![The Jim Bridger Power Plant has been hub for Unidentified flying objects [ UFOs] for 13 months above](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/12/18/05/104833381-15393169-The_Jim_Bridger_Power_Plant_has_been_hub_for_Unidentified_flying-a-103_1766036273291.jpg)
The Jim Bridger Power Plant has been hub for Unidentified flying objects [ UFOs] for 13 months above
John Grossnickle, the Sheriff of Sweetwater County, saw lighted, drone-like objects as recently as December 13
Mower said there have been no issues or concerns among locals in the region, other than their presence.
However, if the UFOs were to cause danger, ‘rest assured … we’ll certainly act accordingly,’ Mower added.
The first drone sightings in Sweetwater came as New Jersey was gripped by mass hysteria when drones were seen repeatedly lighting up the night sky.
A private contractor seemingly solved that mystery after revealing at the Army’s UAS and Launched Effects Summit at Fort Rucker in August that they had launched the objects to ‘test out their capabilities,’ according to the NY Post.
‘You remember that big UFO scare in New Jersey last year? Well, that was us,’ an employee of the unnamed contractor allegedly told a crowd at the event.
According to a source at the summit, the employee went on to claim there was no need to disclose their work to the public because they had a private government contract.
Join the debate
Why do you think officials are keeping people in the dark about these mysterious flying objects?
Locals in Sweetwater County are used to the strange sightings that the Sheriff’s office no longer receives calls about them
Some 964 sightings of flying objects were logged in the state between November 19 up until December 13 of 2024, according to statistics collected by the state’s Office of Emergency Management.
At the first press briefing of President Trump’s second administration on January 28, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had authorized drones and that they did not pose a national security threat.
The FAA last attributed the sightings to ‘lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, law enforcement drones, manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones’.
The agency then issued a temporary ban on flying drones, but as the sightings continued, warned that ‘deadly force’ could be used against drones that present an ‘imminent security threat.’
Exclusive polling from DailyMail.com and J.L. Partners found that nearly half (45 percent) of people believe the bizarre activity was more than just recreational or normal drone use, with the majority (26 percent) of those respondents pointing to foreign surveillance.
Similar sightings caused mass hysteria in New Jersey last year around the same time as the UFOs were seen in Sweetwater
A private unnamed contractor took responsibility for the drone activity and claimed that they were working under contract for the government
The foreign powers mentioned were China or Russia, which has been suspected among lawmakers like Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who said some of the unidentified aircraft are ‘spy drones.’
But 19 percent of Americans do believe the sightings are nothing more than hobby drones and 18 percent stated they are ‘normal flying actives that have been exaggerated.’
There are some Americans (17 percent) who believe the drones were government surveillance tools, but 10 percent said the craft was actually protecting citizens.
And a small eight percent are sure the drones are alien vehicles.
According to Reuters, Instacart is currently getting the regulatory equivalent of a throat-clearing from the FTC, which has sent the grocery delivery platform a civil investigative demand regarding its AI-powered pricing tool, Eversight. Put another way, the agency wants to know why some people are paying substantially more for their organic granola than others.
The issue came to light after a study revealed that shoppers are seeing fairly different prices for identical groceries from the same stores — up to 23% higher prices in some cases. Instacart says these price tests were randomized, not ties to an algorithm that targets customers based on their browsing history. But when people are already anxious about affording eggs, that distinction probably doesn’t mean much.
Dynamic pricing isn’t new or necessarily nefarious. Harvard Business School will tell you it’s how digital platforms stay competitive. Airlines use it, hotels use it, Uber famously uses it. Companies argue that it helps balance supply and demand, maximizes profitability, and creates win-win scenarios.
But there’s a difference between paying surge pricing for a ride home from the bar and paying extra for groceries (food isn’t optional). So while the investigation doesn’t prove wrongdoing, it’s hardly shocking that the FTC — which has investigated data-driven pricing strategies by other companies — is reportedly asking questions. In an economy where everyone’s feeling squeezed, AI-driven price testing of kitchen essentials was bound to attract attention.
TECHNOLOGY
Is AI already conscious? Evidence is ‘far too limited’ to definitively say artificial intelligence hasn’t made the leap, expert claims
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already helping to solve problems in finance, research and medicine.
But could it be reaching consciousness?
Dr Tom McClelland, a philosopher from the University of Cambridge has warned that current evidence is ‘far too limited’ to rule this dystopian possibility out.
According to the expert, the only sensible position on the question of whether AI is conscious is one of ‘agnosticism’.
The main problem, he claims, is that we don’t have a ‘deep explanation’ of what makes something conscious in the first place, so can’t test for it in AI.
‘The best–case scenario is we’re an intellectual revolution away from any kind of viable consciousness test,’ Dr McClelland explained.
‘If neither common sense nor hard–nosed research can give us an answer, the logical position is agnosticism.
‘We cannot, and may never, know.’
Artificial intelligence ( AI) is already helping to solve problems in finance, research and medicine. But could it be reaching consciousness? Pictured: Terminator Genisys
AI companies are investing vast sums of money into pursuing ‘artificial general intelligence’ – the point at which AI can outperform humans in any area.
But as they work towards this goal, some also claim that increasingly sophisticated AI may develop consciousness.
This means AI could develop the capacity for perception and become self–aware.
While this idea might evoke visions of killer robots, Dr McClelland argues that AI could make this jump without us even realising, because we don’t really have an agreed–upon theory of consciousness to begin with.
Some theories say consciousness is a matter of processing information in the right way, and that AI could be conscious if only it could run the ‘software’ of a conscious mind.
Others argue it is inherently biological, meaning AI can only imitate consciousness at best.
Until we can figure out which side of the argument is right, we simply don’t have any basis on which to test for consciousness in AI.
In a paper published in the journal Mind and Language, Dr McClelland claims both sides of the debate are taking a ‘leap of faith’.
We can’t tell whether an AI, like in the sci–fi film Ex Machina (pictured), really has conscious experience or whether it is just simulating consciousness
Whether something is conscious radically changes the kinds of ethical questions we need to consider.
For example, humans are expected to behave morally towards other people and animals, because consciousness gives them ‘moral status’.
In contrast, we don’t have these same values towards inanimate objects, like toasters or computers.
‘It makes no sense to be concerned for a toaster’s well–being because the toaster doesn’t experience anything,’ Dr McClelland explains.
‘So when I yell at my computer, I really don’t need to feel guilty about it. But if we end up with AI that’s conscious, then that could all change.’
While that might make dealing with AI an ethical nightmare, the bigger risk may be that we start to consider AIs as conscious or sentient when they are not.
Dr McClelland explained: ‘If you have an emotional connection with something premised on it being conscious and it’s not, that has the potential to be existentially toxic.’
Worryingly, the philosopher says that members of the public are already sending him letters written by chatbots ‘pleading with me that they’re conscious’.
He added: ‘We don’t want to risk mistreating artificial beings that are conscious, but nor do we want to dedicate our resources to protecting the “rights” of something no more conscious than a toaster.’
HOW SOON WILL WE BE ABLE TO UPLOAD OUR MINDS TO A COMPUTER?
Brain and memory preservation has been explored at length by futurists, scientists and science fiction junkies alike.
Many say it falls under the category of ‘transhumanism.’
Transhumanism is the belief that the human body can evolve beyond its current form with the help of scientists and technology.
The practice of mind uploading has been promoted by many people, including Ray Kurzweil, Google’s director of engineering, who believes we will be able to upload our entire brains to computers by 2045.
Similar technologies have been depicted in science fiction dramas, ranging from Netflix’s Altered Carbon, to the popular series Black Mirror.
Another prominent futurist, Dr Michio Kaku, believes virtual reality can be used to keep our loved ones’ personalities and memories alive even after they die.
Scientists and futurists have different theories about how we might be able to preserve the human brain, ranging from uploading our memories to a computer to Nectome’s high-tech embalming process, which can keep it intact for thousands of years
‘Imagine being able to speak to your loved one after they die … it is possible if their personality has been downloaded onto a computer as an avatar,’ he explained.
These ideas haven’t been met without criticism.
McGill University Neuroscientist Michael Hendricks told MIT that these technologies are a ‘joke.’
‘I hope future people are appalled that in the 21st century, the richest and most comfortable people in history spent their money and resources trying to live forever on the backs of their descendants. I mean, it’s a joke, right? They are cartoon bad guys,’ he said.
Meanwhile, neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis said recently that such technologies would be virtually impossible.
‘The brain is not computable and no engineering can reproduce it,’ he said.
‘You can have all the computer chips in the world and you won’t create a consciousness.’
Like pretty much every other tech company in existence, Adobe has leaned heavily into AI over the past several years. The software firm has launched a number of different AI services since 2023, including Firefly — its AI-powered media-generation suite. Now, however, the company’s full-throated embrace of the technology may have led to trouble, as a new lawsuit claims it used pirated books to train one of its AI models.
A proposed class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Elizabeth Lyon, an author from Oregon, claims that Adobe used pirated versions of numerous books — including her own — to train the company’s SlimLM program.
Adobe describes SlimLM as a small language model series that can be “optimized for document assistance tasks on mobile devices.” It states that SlimLM was pre-trained on SlimPajama-627B, a “deduplicated, multi-corpora, open-source dataset” released by Cerebras in June of 2023. Lyon, who has written a number of guidebooks for non-fiction writing, says that some of her works were included in a pretraining dataset that Adobe had used.
Lyon’s lawsuit, which was originally reported on by Reuters, says that her writing was included in a processed subset of a manipulated dataset that was the basis of Adobe’s program: “The SlimPajama dataset was created by copying and manipulating the RedPajama dataset (including copying Books3),” the lawsuit says. “Thus, because it is a derivative copy of the RedPajama dataset, SlimPajama contains the Books3 dataset, including the copyrighted works of Plaintiff and the Class members.”
“Books3” — a huge collection of 191,000 books that have been used to train GenAI systems — has been an ongoing source of legal trouble for the tech community. RedPajama has also been cited in a number of litigation cases. In September, a lawsuit against Apple claimed the company had used copyrighted material to train its Apple Intelligence model. The litigation mentioned the dataset and accused the tech company of copying protected works “without consent and without credit or compensation.” In October, a similar lawsuit against Salesforce also claimed the company had used RedPajama for training purposes.
Unfortunately for the tech industry, such lawsuits have, by now, become somewhat commonplace. AI algorithms are trained on massive datasets and, in some cases, those datasets have allegedly included pirated materials. In September, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to a number of authors who had sued it and accused it of using pirated versions of their work to train its chatbot, Claude. The case was considered a potential turning point in the ongoing legal battles over copyrighted material in AI training data, of which there are many.
TECHNOLOGY
British nuclear fusion breakthrough: AI tool that can complete complex calculations in seconds takes us one step closer to limitless clean energy
Limitless clean energy is one step closer to becoming a reality, following the latest nuclear fusion breakthrough.
Scientists from the UK and Austria have developed a new AI tool that can simulate the superheated plasma inside a fusion reactor.
The tool, dubbed GyroSwin, completes calculations within seconds that would usually take days on the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
This could help scientists to understand how to harness the unpredictable power of fusion energy and build the world’s first functioning reactors.
Fusion reactors replicate the processes found in the heart of the sun, where hydrogen atoms are smashed together and fused into helium.
However, to create a miniature star on Earth requires heating plasma to around 100,000,000°C and keeping it hot and dense enough for fusion to take place.
Since no material could withstand these temperatures, the plasma is trapped by powerful magnetic fields inside a doughnut–shaped device known as a tokamak.
With the help of GyroSwin’s simulations, engineers should be able to fine–tune these magnetic fields to create a stable fusion reaction.
Scientists from the UK and Austria have developed a new AI tool that can simulate the superheated plasma inside a fusion reactor
Nuclear fusion has the potential to create a nearly endless source of clean energy, and has previously been described as the ‘holy grail’ by scientists.
Two types of hydrogen – deuterium and tritium – are the only fuels needed, while the only byproduct is helium.
This means there are no mountains of long–lasting radioactive waste or greenhouse gas emissions to damage the planet.
The problem is that making fusion reactors a reality requires us to harness some of the most unpredictable forces in the universe.
Superheated plasma doesn’t run around in a neat ring; it bounces and ripples in a process known as turbulence.
Co–creator of GyroSwin Dr Fabian Paischer, of the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, told Daily Mail: ‘Plasma leaks out of its magnetic cage due to turbulence, meaning it loses its potency for the fusion reaction to occur.’
For this reason, fusion reactions tend to be extremely short–lived.
In fact, the current record for a sustained reaction sits at just 43 seconds!
Scientists use ring–shaped devices called tokamaks (pictured) to trap plasma in a magnetic cage. However, since plasma is turbulent, it tends to leak out of its cage over time
What is nuclear fusion?
Nuclear fusion is a potentially limitless source of clean energy created by the same core processes inside the sun.
Using intense heat, magnetic fields and pressure, the nuclei of lighter elements are fused together to create heavier elements, releasing energy in the process.
By containing this star-like process in specially designed reactors, engineers can fuse hydrogen atoms together to produce helium, harnessing the clean energy produced and potentially cutting dependency on fossil fuels.
To keep a fusion reaction going indefinitely, scientists will need extremely accurate simulations of how turbulence forms under different conditions.
Since the dynamics inside a plasma are so complex, you can’t use the same kinds of simulations that we use to predict the weather or the flow of liquids.
The current best simulations track particles of plasma in five dimensions: three for their locations, one for their speed, and one for their direction relative to the magnetic field.
However, these simulations take days to complete, even when they are being run on the world’s best supercomputers.
GyroSwin, which has been developed by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), Johannes Kepler University in Linz and an Austrian firm Emmi AI, offers a different solution.
Scientists first run extremely accurate – but expensive and slow – simulations on traditional supercomputers.
The results of these simulations are then used to train an AI so that it can learn to predict the subtle relationships between cause and effect.
Once the training is complete, GyroSwin can skip over the complex calculations and make predictions about the outcome of simulations in seconds rather than days.
By simulating the conditions inside a tokamak reactor, researchers can find ways to make the plasma less turbulent and ensure that nuclear fusion reactions last longer. Pictured: A staff member performs an upgrade to China’s experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST)
These types of ‘AI surrogate model’ aren’t new, but what makes GyroSwin so exciting is just how accurate it appears to be.
Dr Paischer says: ‘GyroSwin is the first model that actually models the full plasma turbulence in all its beauty and across multiple scales.
‘Previous approaches only tried to model turbulence in a reduced form, meaning they always neglect important information to make predictions more efficient at the cost of accuracy.’
Importantly, the model is already starting to show signs of capturing the underlying physics of plasma turbulence.
While the AI will still need some traditional simulations to keep improving its training, it could speed up the production of working nuclear reactors.
Rob Akers, Director of Computing Programmes at UKAEA, told Daily Mail: ‘Fusion development is highly iterative, and credible designs can require very large numbers of simulations.
‘Cutting turnaround from days to seconds can speed up design loops and “what if” exploration dramatically.
‘It won’t solve fusion on its own, but it can materially speed up the engineering cycle –which is exactly what you need on the path to a working fusion machine.’
Currently, the record for a sustained fusion reaction is held by the Wendelstein 7–X fusion device, which maintained fusion for 43 seconds. This new AI tool could help future reactors maintain fusion indefinitely
In its current form, GyroSwin is a proof of concept, but the researchers plan on scaling it up for more practical scenarios.
The goal is to use the AI to guide fusion reactors that are already running or are soon to be built.
That could include the MAST Upgrade experimental tokamak that is under construction near Oxford, or the UK’s flagship STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) project, which aims to build a functioning prototype reactor by the 2040s.
Although a real, fully functioning fusion reactor is still within the realm of science fiction, these fundamental breakthroughs bring it a little bit closer to reality.
HOW A FUSION REACTOR WORKS
Fusion is the process by which a gas is heated up and separated into its constituent ions and electrons.
It involves light elements, such as hydrogen, smashing together to form heavier elements, such as helium.
For fusion to occur, hydrogen atoms are placed under high heat and pressure until they fuse together.
The tokamak (artist’s impression) is the most developed magnetic confinement system and is the basis for the design of many modern fusion reactors. The purple at the center of the diagram shows the plasma inside
When deuterium and tritium nuclei – which can be found in hydrogen – fuse, they form a helium nucleus, a neutron and a lot of energy.
This is done by heating the fuel to temperatures in excess of 150 million°C and forming a hot plasma, a gaseous soup of subatomic particles.
Strong magnetic fields are used to keep the plasma away from the reactor’s walls, so that it doesn’t cool down and lose its energy potential.
These fields are produced by superconducting coils surrounding the vessel and by an electrical current driven through the plasma.
For energy production, plasma has to be confined for a sufficiently long period for fusion to occur.
When ions get hot enough, they can overcome their mutual repulsion and collide, fusing together.
When this happens, they release around one million times more energy than a chemical reaction and three to four times more than a conventional nuclear fission reactor.
Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the next administrator of NASA. The private astronaut and founder of the Shift4 payments processing platform will now be in charge of an agency that faces great uncertainty under President Trump.
Isaacman’s confirmation comes a little over a year after Trump nominated him. It was a volatile year for Isaacman, though, as Trump pulled his nomination in June after becoming concerned about the billionaire’s “prior associations.” (Isaacman had previously donated to Democrats, something Trump was reportedly aware of when he first nominated the entrepreneur.)
That led to months of sniping between Trump’s camp and people more closely aligned with Isaacman, like SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who publicly attacked the credibility of acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy. Trump ultimately flipped in November and re-nominated Isaacman.
The billionaire will now oversee a trimmed-down space agency that Trump has tasked with returning to the Moon. SpaceX has a contract to land astronauts on the lunar surface, though Duffy had threatened to revoke that contract, and encouraged Jeff Bezos’ rival company Blue Origin to try to beat Musk’s effort.
TECHNOLOGY
Travel nightmare at America’s busiest airports as staffing shortages spark widespread flight delays
Air traffic into two of the nation’s busiest airports was disrupted on Tuesday due to staffing shortages, triggering widespread delays across the US.
At Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW), arrival delays reached up to 63 minutes after the FAA reduced traffic flow because of limited staffing, restricted runway use and sudden pop-up weather.
Arrivals are being funneled onto just three runways while departures are limited to two, sharply cutting airport capacity during the evening peak.
At Newark Liberty (EWR), the situation is more severe, with delays climbing to 95 minutes as staffing shortages were compounded by the loss of Runway 22L, which was taken out of service.
Arrival rates at EWR were slashed to as low as 32 aircraft per hour, affecting flights from nearly every major US region and several Canadian airports.
The FAA indicated that weather was only a minor factor at Newark, with staffing and runway availability driving the disruption.
Ground stops were lifted, but delays persisted due to ongoing capacity constraints.
The disruptions come just months after the government shutdown in October, which led to widespread flight delays and staffing disruptions across the nation’s air traffic control system.
At Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW), arrival delays reached up to 63 minutes after the FAA reduced traffic flow because of limited staffing, restricted runway use and sudden pop-up weather (STOCK)
DFW is one of the world’s busiest airports, handling massive passenger volumes, with over 87.8 million passengers in 2024, making it the world’s third busiest.
The airport is expecting nearly 90 million in 2025, averaging over 189,000 travelers daily and projecting even higher numbers for busy periods like during the holidays.
While final 2025 figures are not out, EWR saw strong recovery and growth in 2025, with August alone hitting 4.5 million passengers, up four percent from 2024.
The New Jersey-based airport sees tens of thousands of travelers daily, with averages around 40,000 passengers and nearly 1,200 daily flights
However, peak days can exceed 80,000 passengers, especially during summer, serving over 45 airlines with global connections.
At DFW, arrival rates were set at 72 aircraft per hour, with delays applied to all contiguous US departures within a 1,600-mile departure scope, while Canadian departure airports were excluded.
While EWR’s arrival rates are set at 34 to 32 aircraft per hour.
The government shutdown lasted for a historic 43 days, beating the last that hit 35 days in 2018 to 2019. Both occurred while President Donald Trump was in office.
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Travel nightmare at America’s busiest airports as staffing shortages spark widespread flight delays
TECHNOLOGY
YouTube to pull music data from Billboard’s charts because it doesn’t like its ranking formula
YouTube is pulling its data from Billboard for use in the publisher’s industry-leading U.S. music charts. The decision is in response to a recent change Billboard made to its ranking formula, which continues to add more weight to paid, on-demand streaming compared with ad-supported, free streaming.
Billboard justified its decision to adjust its age-old formula by saying that the change will “better reflect an increase in streaming revenue and changing consumer behaviors.”
In other words, streaming now matters more than buying albums or songs, so it wants its charts to reflect that.
However, YouTube doesn’t like the new formula because it doesn’t want there to be much — if any — differentiation between free and paid streams, especially if the changes are meant to reflect how consumers today are enjoying music.
“Billboard uses an outdated formula that weights subscription-supported streams higher than ad-supported. This doesn’t reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who don’t have a subscription,” a YouTube blog post published on Wednesday explains. “Streaming is the primary way people experience music, making up 84% of U.S. recorded music revenue.”
“We’re simply asking that every stream is counted fairly and equally, whether it is subscription-based or ad-supported—because every fan matters and every play should count,” the post notes.
The ranking changes will be reflected starting with the charts published on January 17, which will include data from January 2-8, 2026. This will impact the Billboard 200 lists and genre-based album charts. In addition, the ratio between paid/subscription and ad-supported on-demand streaming tiers will be adjusted to 2.5:1 for the Billboard Hot 100, Billboard said.
To protest the new formula, YouTube said it will no longer provide data to Billboard after January 16, 2026.
Here’s what that change means in practice: Under the revised calculation, Billboard said it will take 33.3% fewer ad-supported on-demand streams of songs from an album, and 20% fewer paid/subscription on-demand streams of songs from an album, to equal an album unit. In short, it will take fewer streams than before for an album to climb the charts. This is a win for streaming in general but not necessarily for YouTube.
Here’s why. At present, the formula Billboard uses defines an album unit (the standard measurement for chart rankings) as one album sale. It counts 10 individual songs from an album as one album consumption unit, as well.
On the streaming side, it currently says an album unit equals 3,750 ad-supported streams — like YouTube’s — or 1,250 paid/subscription official audio and video streams.
After the changes, those figures will be adjusted, so it will take 2,500 ad-supported streams or 1,000 paid/subscription streams to count as one album unit. This means paid streams count 2.5x as much as ad-supported streams. While that’s less of a gap than the current 3:1 ratio, it’s still not what YouTube would prefer seeing here. The company is essentially doing what companies do in failed negotiations like this: it’s taking its ball and going home.
Of course, by not cooperating with Billboard, YouTube’s music data won’t be considered in chart rankings, which could lead labels and artists to deprioritize publishing their music on YouTube. That’s not a good long-term strategy for YouTube as an important player in the streaming music era. That’s why this move should be viewed as the negotiation tactic it is.
“We are committed to achieving equitable representation across the charts and hopefully can work with Billboard to return to theirs,” YouTube’s announcement concludes.