Lifestyle
Chinese scientist edits twin human baby genes to prevent HIV infection
A Chinese scientist and professor named Dr. He Jiankui claimed this week that he edited the genes of recently born twin girls while they were embryos. Using a technique called CRISPR-Cas9, the gene responsible for allowing HIV to infect the body was altered to mimic a natural genetic variation in some humans that confers strong resistance to the virus. The father of the babies in the study is HIV positive, a fact which motivated the study and the family’s willingness to take part.
The study’s twins, referred to as “Lulu and Nana”, are said to be in excellent health, and the full details of the corresponding study promised to be provided for public review in the near future. Dr. He, who studied at Rice University in Texas and Stanford University in California, is expected to speak at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong on Wednesday where further evidence may be presented. Thus far, none has been made available, although Dr. He’s previous work is well known to those in the field, giving certain merit to his claims.
The response to Dr. He’s announcement has, thus far, been overwhelmingly negative along with the validity of the claims being questioned. The ethics of gene editing in babies is decidedly set against the practice in the global scientific community, and a significant number of organizations have issued public statements strongly condemning the professor’s work. The Chinese government has also since ordered an inquiry. While an explicit ban on gene editing on embryos intended for reproduction does not exist in the country, strict ethical guidelines recommend strongly against the practice.
Additionally, Dr. He adamantly denies that his research and work in gene editing serves the purpose of the infamous “designer baby” concept. “For forty years, regulations and morals have developed together with IVF [and gene editing is another] advancement…only meant to help a small number of families,” he stated in his video published November 25th. In an interview with the AP, he defined his goal as bestowing traits that resist future infections from diseases like HIV, the AIDS virus.
The process involved in editing the twin girls’ DNA, as described, began as a regular In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) process wherein the mother’s eggs were fertilized by the father’s sperm to create an embryo in a laboratory environment. At that stage, a CRISPR/Cas9 protein with gene editing instructions was introduced to amend the embryo DNA, and those embryos were subsequently implanted in the mother. Dr. He has claimed that the resulting genomes were assessed at the embryonic stage, during pregnancy, and after birth to confirm that the intended gene alone was changed.
The hospital claimed to have approved Dr. He’s research, Shenzhen Harmonicare Women’s and Children’s Hospital, has denied having a relationship with Dr. He or any involvement in the experiment. They have also lodged a police report in this regard. Additionally, Southern University of Science and Technology, the university where Dr. He is employed, stated that the professor has been on unpaid leave since February 1, 2018, thus the research involved with the twins was not affiliated with the school.
One of the primary concerns with editing genomes at the embryo level is the long-term impact on both the humans in question and their offspring who will inherit the modified genes. The edited DNA would eventually enter the general population as it passed on through generations. In this study, CCR5, a gene used to make a protein HIV needs to enter cells, was disabled in the twins’ DNA, an edit which effectively shuts off the “gateway” through which the virus infects the body. Although no unintended consequences have yet been observed in this example, scientists overall point to years of study still needed before clinical treatment can ethically be conducted.
One of the ethical guidelines involved in gene editing is restricting its use to only addressing medical needs which cannot be effectively treated through other means. In denouncing the driver of Dr. He’s study, specifically in addressing HIV via gene editing, safe-sex was recommended as a preventative along with current medical treatments in the case of infection by the director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford. Opposing the opinion of the medical community, however, a recent study by the Sun Yat-Sen University in China found that around 60% of Chinese people have a favorable view of gene editing for disease therapy. Professor He has also pointed to the discrimination faced by Chinese people with HIV as further motivation for his controversial work.
Watch the below video He Jianjui published announcing the gene surgery:
Tesla announced its Spring 2026 software update, and it’s the most feature-dense seasonal release the company has put out. The update covers twelve named changes spanning FSD, voice AI, safety lighting, dashcam storage, and pet display customization, among other things.
The centerpiece for owners with AI4 hardware is a redesigned Self-Driving app. The new interface lets owners subscribe to Full Self-Driving with a single tap and view ongoing FSD usage stats directly in the vehicle.
Grok gets its biggest in-car upgrade yet. The update adds a “Hey Grok” hands-free wake word along with location-based reminders, so a driver can now say “remind me to pick up groceries when I get home” without touching the screen. Grok first arrived in vehicles in July 2025, but each update has pushed it closer to genuine daily utility. Musk framed the broader vision clearly at Davos in January, saying Tesla is “really moving into a future that is based on autonomy.”
On safety, the update introduces enhanced blind spot warning lights that integrate directly with the cabin’s ambient lighting, building on the blind spot door warning that arrived in update 2026.8.
Dog Mode has been renamed Pet Mode and now lets owners choose a dog, cat, or hedgehog icon and add their pet’s name to the display.
Dashcam retention now extends up to 24 hours, up from the previous one-hour rolling loop, with a permanent save option for any clip. Weather maps now show rain and snow with better color differentiation and include the past hour of precipitation data along the route.
Tesla has now established a clear rhythm of two major OTA pushes per year. As with last year’s Spring update, that cycle started taking shape in 2025 with adaptive headlights and trunk customization. The 2025 Holiday Update then added Grok to the vehicle for the first time. This Spring follows that structure: the Holiday update introduces new architecture, and the Spring update broadens it across the fleet.
Two notable features still did not make it. IFTTT automations, which launched in China earlier this year, were held back from this North American release for unknown reasons, and Apple CarPlay remains absent, reportedly still delayed by iOS 26 and Apple Maps compatibility issues.
Below is the full list of feature updates released by Tesla.
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 13, 2026
Lifestyle
Tesla hit by Iranian missile debris in Israel
A Tesla in Israel absorbed a direct hit from missile debris, and the glassroof held.
On March 30, 2026, Lara Shusterman was in Netanya, Israel when Iranian ballistic missiles triggered air raid sirens across the city. While she remained in safety, her 2024 Tesla Model Y did not escape untouched. A heavy piece of missile debris struck the car’s massive glass roof, leaving a deep crater but without shattering. In a Facebook post to the Tesla Israel community the following morning, Shusterman described what happened: “The glass did not shatter into dangerous shards. She stopped the damage and pushed the metal part to the ground.” She closed by thanking Elon Musk and the Tesla team for building what she called “security and a sense of trust even in extreme situations.”
Netanya is a coastal city in central Israel, roughly 18 miles north of Tel Aviv and has been among the areas most frequently struck during Iran’s ongoing missile campaign, following coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian military infrastructure. Falling shrapnel from intercepted missiles is a common occurrence.
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- Tesla Model Y glass roof shattered from a piece of falling Iranian missile debris
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- A piece of Iranian missile debris that struck Lara Shusterman’s Tesla Model Y in Netanya, Israel on March 30, 2026, after being intercepted by Israeli air defenses.
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- Tesla Model Y glass roof shattered from a piece of falling Iranian missile debris
Source: Tesla Israel Facebook Group
The incident is a testament to Tesla’s structural engineering. Tesla’s glass roof is designed to support over four times the vehicle’s own weight. That strength has shown up in real-world accidents too. In 2021, a Model Y in California was struck by a falling tree during a storm, with the glass roof holding firm and the cabin remaining intact. In another widely reported incident, a Tesla Model Y plunged 250 feet off the cliff at Devil’s Slide in California in January 2023, with all four occupants, including two young children, surviving.
Disturbing details about Tesla’s 250-foot cliff drop emerge amid initial investigation
Tesla officially launched sales in Israel in early 2021 and captured over 60 percent of Israel’s EV market in the first year. The brand’s foothold in Israel remains significant. Tens of thousands of Teslas are now on Israeli roads, making incidents like Shusterman’s easy to corroborate. On the same week her Model Y took the hit, the U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a $178.5 million contract to launch missile tracking satellites, a separate but fitting reminder of how intertwined the Musk ecosystem has become with the realities of modern conflict.
Elon Musk
NASA sends humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972 – Here’s what’s next
NASA’s Artemis II launched four astronauts toward the Moon on the first crewed lunar mission since 1972.
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket launches carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist on NASA’s Artemis II mission, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Operations and Support Building II at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis II mission will take Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft launched at 6:35pm EDT from Launch Complex 39B. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA launched four astronauts toward the Moon on April 1, 2026, marking the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The Artemis II mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center aboard the Space Launch System rocket at 6:35 p.m. EDT, sending commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day journey around the far side of the Moon and back.
The mission does not include a lunar landing. It is a test flight designed to validate the Orion spacecraft’s life support systems, navigation, and communications in deep space with a crew aboard for the first time. If the crew reaches the planned distance of 252,000 miles from Earth, they will set a new record for the farthest any human has ever traveled, surpassing even the Apollo 13 distance record.
As Teslarati reported, SpaceX holds a central role in what comes next. The Starship Human Landing System is under contract to carry astronauts to the lunar surface for Artemis IV, now targeting 2028, after NASA restructured its mission sequence due to delays in Starship’s orbital refueling demonstration. Before any Moon landing happens, SpaceX must prove it can transfer propellant between two Starships in orbit, something no rocket program has done at this scale.
The last time humans left Earth’s orbit was 53 years ago. Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17 were the final people to walk on the Moon, a record that stands to this day. Elon Musk has long argued that returning is not optional. “It’s been now almost half a century since humans were last on the Moon,” Musk said. “That’s too long, we need to get back there and have a permanent base on the Moon.”
The Artemis program involves 60 countries signed onto the Artemis Accords, and this mission sets several firsts beyond distance. Glover becomes the first person of color to travel beyond low Earth orbit, Koch the first woman, and Hansen the first non-American astronaut to reach the Moon’s vicinity. According to NASA’s live mission updates, the spacecraft’s solar arrays deployed successfully after liftoff and the crew completed a proximity operations demonstration within the first hours of flight.
Artemis II is step one. The Moon landing and the permanent lunar base come later. But after more than five decades, humans are heading back.
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Tesla Full Self-Driving shows stunning maneuver in Europe to silence skeptics
