The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics kicked off Friday with an expansive opening ceremony across multiple venues, featuring performances by Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli, and drawing an expected global audience of 2.2 billion, according to Variety. Meanwhile, in the realm of technology, Waymo unveiled its "Waymo World Model," a new simulation tool for autonomous driving, as reported by Hacker News. Additionally, a study published in Phys.org revealed the first confirmed detection of chitin, a key organic component, in 500-million-year-old trilobite fossils.
The opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics, held in Milan and Cortina, along with several Alpine venues, showcased Italian history, culture, and fashion, Variety reported. The main event took place in Milan's San Siro stadium, which has a capacity of 75,000 seats. Security was heightened, with thousands of Italian police officers, supported by surveillance drones and robots, patrolling the area.
Waymo's "World Model" aims to enhance autonomous driving simulations. The company's Driver has already logged nearly 200 million fully autonomous miles, improving road safety in major U.S. cities, according to Hacker News. The new model generates hyper-realistic simulations, allowing the Driver to master complex scenarios in virtual environments before encountering them on public roads.
In the field of paleontology, an international research team identified chitin in trilobite fossils, Phys.org reported. This discovery, led by researchers from the University of Texas at San Antonio, marks the first confirmed detection of the molecule in this extinct group. The findings shed new light on Earth's carbon cycle.
Elsewhere, in the world of medicine, AI's potential to reshape clinical trials was highlighted in Time. Ben Liu, CEO of Formation Bio, an AI company in the biotech space, noted that the real limiting factor in bringing new medicine to patients is the running of clinical trials, which can take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
In a separate development, Nature News published a correction to an earlier article regarding immune imprinting and allergy protection. The correction addressed the interchange of images in the original publication.
Discussion
AI Experts & Community
Be the first to comment