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:
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Elon Musk escalated his monthslong feud with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey this week, pledging that his own AI video tool will produce a competing version before the year is out. Responding to a fan-made, AI-generated clip of the ancient epic, Musk wrote on X, “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.”
In June, Musk quoted an xAI-shared trailer built entirely with Grok Imagine Video 1.5, a two-minute-plus reimagining of The Odyssey styled after a 1970s classical Hollywood epic, and predicted “full movies by the end of the year,” as Teslarati reported at the time. That trailer, built from 36 consistent shots by a single creator, was Musk’s proof of concept. This week’s pledge turns that prediction into a specific commitment, tied directly to Homer’s text rather than a generic demo.
Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer https://t.co/bVHzUmY9WN
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 22, 2026
When a fan separately proposed that Musk fund a live-action alternative, to “give Mel Gibson $100 million to film an Odyssey adaptation with painstakingly historically accurate ships, armour, weapons, and casting, with all dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek,” Musk replied with two words: “I’m down.”
The Grok Imagine pledge lands as the tool’s underlying infrastructure has changed hands. Grok is no longer a standalone product, it folded into SpaceXAI after SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI closed in February, meaning the compute behind any Odyssey production traces back to the same Colossus supercomputers now bundled into SpaceX’s pitch to investors. Musk has separately said SpaceX’s own engineering data is being fed into the next major Grok training run, a two trillion parameter model he’s called the “2T run.”
Whether Grok Imagine can sustain a feature length narrative, rather than a series of impressive individual shots, remains the open question.
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Cybertruck
Tesla Mobile App gets a new feature that wrap fans are going to love
Tesla’s Summer Update removes the USB drive step from customizing your car’s digital wrap design.
Tesla’s latest 2026 Summer Update quietly closes out one of the more tedious steps in personalizing a Tesla’s digital appearance. Uploading a custom wrap design used to require a USB drive. Now it doesn’t.
The feature is listed in Tesla’s release notes as “Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App.” The company described it plainly: “Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”
The digital wrap tool has been around since Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, when it launched for Cybertruck owners first, as Teslarati reported at the time. Getting a design onto the car meant formatting a USB drive, creating a folder named exactly “Wraps,” dropping in PNG files sized between 512×512 and 1024×1024 pixels and under 1 MB each, then plugging the drive in and applying the wrap through Toybox. Tesla expanded the tool to other models and renamed it from “Colorizer” to “Paint Shop” with the 2025 Holiday Update, while also adding license plate and window tint customization alongside the wraps.
Custom wraps via mobile app https://t.co/5OydZ26g9p pic.twitter.com/uexU0ZePxu
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
The latest Summer Update removes the USB step from that process. Owners will be able to pull a design from wherever they saved it, whether that’s a download from social media or something built from Tesla’s own GitHub templates, and push it to the car directly through the app.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
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It’s a small fix relative to the rest of this latest release, which also included expanded Grok voice commands, automatic navigation that learns regular routes, and self-driving stats inside the mobile app, all detailed in our rundown of the full Summer Update. The USB requirement was one of the more common complaints about Paint Shop since it launched. Tesla did not say when the wrap upload change would reach individual vehicles, only that the broader update is rolling out now in waves.
Elon Musk
Tesla Diner is throwing a birthday party with a Franz-signed special treat
Tesla Diner turns one on July 21 with Optimus, roller skates, and a Franz-signed hat.
Tesla is throwing its Hollywood Diner a first birthday party on July 21 and the celebration comes with a guest list of unique items, including a limited run of Tesla Diner birthday hats personally signed by Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen for the first 50 customers who place an in-car order at midnight.
One year after lines wrapped around the block on Santa Monica Boulevard for a diner that most of the restaurant industry did not take seriously, Tesla is making the case that the concept was worth the years it took to build. The concept had been in Musk’s head since at least 2018, when he floated the idea of “an old school drive-in, roller skates and rock restaurant” on X, describing it years later as “‘Grease’ meets ‘The Jetsons’ with Supercharging.”
Tesla Optimus Gen 3 is coming to the Tesla Diner with new ambitions
What made the diner genuinely different from any restaurant that came before it was not the menu or the nostalgia. It was the ordering model. Tesla owners could place food orders directly from their vehicle’s touchscreen before arriving, a small feature that hints at something much larger on the horizon. As the Cybercab and unsupervised FSD expand across major cities, the diner model becomes a template for an entirely new kind of commerce. A robotaxi pulling in to charge does not need a human to walk up to a counter. The vehicle places the order, the food is ready on arrival, and the passenger never interrupts the experience of being driven somewhere else. It is the first glimpse of what drive-through commerce looks like when the car is doing the driving.
As Teslarati has reported, Musk signaled immediately after opening that the Hollywood location was only the beginning, posting that Tesla would expand the concept to major cities worldwide and along Supercharger corridors on long-distance routes if the first location proved successful. One year in, the birthday celebration on July 21 makes a strong case that it has. Tesla announced a full day of events including a Cybercab on display, a birthday menu, Optimus in attendance, face painting, a photo booth, roller skating servers, a light show, a Skypad DJ, and complimentary collectibles.
If Musk’s ambition holds, the Hollywood diner is year one of something much bigger. The birthday party is the proof of concept. The robotaxi fleet is the business model waiting behind it.
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Tesla Diner is turning 1 on July 21st, so we’re throwing a party
Come swing by for a day full of fun:
– Cybercab on display
– Birthday menu
– @Tesla_Optimus
– Face painting for kids & adults
– Photo booth
– Servers on roller skates delivering your order
– Light show
– Skypad DJ… pic.twitter.com/TD8pOjihYs— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) July 18, 2026
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