Chinese scientists who inserted a gene from desert moss into cotton say their innovation can boost yields by nearly a quarter through protection against a pervasive fungal disease that threatens crops worldwide. The team, led by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG), inserted a stress-resistance gene from a species of steppe moss that ...
Chinese scientists who inserted a gene from desert moss into cotton say their innovation can boost yields by nearly a quarter through protection against a pervasive fungal disease that threatens crops worldwide. The team, led by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG), inserted a stress-resistance gene from a species of steppe moss that thrives in the deserts of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region into cotton plants. The resulting...
The Pulitzer-winning author of Less has crafted a breezy confection of fish-out-of-water wit, insecurity and self-discovery set in an Italian paradise ‘There’s a place in Italy in need of someone. Why don’t you look into that?” Inspired by his two-year stint directing a writers’ residency, the Santa Maddalena Foundation outside Florence, with these words American author Andrew Sean Greer launches ...
The Pulitzer-winning author of Less has crafted a breezy confection of fish-out-of-water wit, insecurity and self-discovery set in an Italian paradise ‘There’s a place in Italy in need of someone. Why don’t you look into that?” Inspired by his two-year stint directing a writers’ residency, the Santa Maddalena Foundation outside Florence, with these words American author Andrew Sean Greer launches a hapless, clueless innocent into the Tuscan hills and the embrace of its eccentric aristocracy, in the person of the eponymous Coco, Baronessa Lisabetta. Variously known as “our young man”, Gio and Giovedi, Villa Coco’s narrator is here to fill the post of “adjutant” for the Baronessa. His duties include pruning roses, emptying drains, hunting the Baronessa’s mortal enemy, the pine marten, and cataloguing the dilapidated Villa Coco’s contents. Among the camel saddles and hat racks, he is assured, lurk priceless works of art, including a Picasso and a Botticelli. He joins a staff consisting of a Sri Lankan cook, her husband and a Lebanese factotum; they share in the sisyphean task of keeping Villa Coco going, and the Baronessa out of harm’s way. Continue reading...
It was once an article of faith that even those who speak words we disagree with deserve protection. As regards Palestine, that’s now not true Remember the Satanic Verses controversy? Remember “ Je suis Charlie ”? Remember the constant invocations of Voltaire and Orwell ? The great irony of our age is that many of the cadre of politicians who spent years anointing themselves as champions of free s...
It was once an article of faith that even those who speak words we disagree with deserve protection. As regards Palestine, that’s now not true Remember the Satanic Verses controversy? Remember “ Je suis Charlie ”? Remember the constant invocations of Voltaire and Orwell ? The great irony of our age is that many of the cadre of politicians who spent years anointing themselves as champions of free speech have become its most enthusiastic enemies when the subject turns to one issue: Palestine. For decades, western governments lectured the world about liberal values. They declared freedom of expression the hallmark of a liberal democratic society. Protest was deemed patriotic while the right to offend was considered sacred. Then came Gaza. Suddenly, the principles that we were once told were non-negotiable became highly negotiable indeed. Mehdi Hasan is the editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo The assault on freedom with Mehdi Hasan and Arwa Mahdawi At 7.30pm BST on Monday 8 June, join Mehdi Hasan and Arwa Mahdawi at a joint Zeteo/Guardian event to discuss the current seismic changes in geopolitics, the alarming rise of populism and nationalism, and its global implications. Only livestream tickets are now available. Book tickets here Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here . Continue reading...
The half-pint sleuth investigates another mystery with the franchise’s usual gorgeous cityscapes, sharply sketched characters and general brio Coming hard on the heels of last year’s One-Eyed Flashback comes the 29th cinema outing for Conan Edogawa (voiced by Minami Takayama), the gumshoe forced to occupy a kid’s body. In the meantime, the franchise seems to have turned into Akira : the first 10 m...
The half-pint sleuth investigates another mystery with the franchise’s usual gorgeous cityscapes, sharply sketched characters and general brio Coming hard on the heels of last year’s One-Eyed Flashback comes the 29th cinema outing for Conan Edogawa (voiced by Minami Takayama), the gumshoe forced to occupy a kid’s body. In the meantime, the franchise seems to have turned into Akira : the first 10 minutes opens not only with a seemingly phantom headless biker riding past Conan’s gang in the countryside, but then three more choppers tearing up a Yokohama freeway like an urban wall of death. The half-pint sleuth and pals are on their way to a motorcycle convention, where the star of the show is Chihaya (Miyuki Sawashiro), the auburn-tressed elite bike cop who was pursuing the felons. The real torque of the town, though, is the mysterious black superbike that harries other two-wheelers; Conan tags on surreptitiously in wide-eyed-schoolboy mode, as he does, while Chihaya continues her investigation. On one street corner, she makes a pitstop at a floral tribute where her old unit chief Asagi (Yuko Sanpei) caused the death of another suspect. Continue reading...
shapecharge/E+ via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Alger AI Enablers & Adopters ETF Q1 2026 Commentary. The Alger AI Enablers & Adopters ETF underperformed the S&P 500 Index during the First quarter of 2026. Western Digital Corporation ( WDC ), Nebius Group ( NBIS ), and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. were among the top contributors to performance. • Western Digit...
shapecharge/E+ via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Alger AI Enablers & Adopters ETF Q1 2026 Commentary. The Alger AI Enablers & Adopters ETF underperformed the S&P 500 Index during the First quarter of 2026. Western Digital Corporation ( WDC ), Nebius Group ( NBIS ), and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. were among the top contributors to performance. • Western Digital is a hard disk drive (HDD) storage company benefiting from rising hyperscaler data-center investment and the continued proliferation of data. The HDD industry is highly consolidated, with only two scaled manufacturers, and Western Digital holds a leading market position. The business has structurally shifted toward cloud customers as consumer exposure has declined, with cloud representing the majority of Western Digital's revenue. Importantly, industry participants have emphasized capital discipline—prioritizing higher areal density (i.e., more terabytes per drive) rather than adding significant unit capacity—which supports a healthier supply/demand balance and improved profitability. During the quarter, shares contributed positively to performance after the company delivered strong fiscal second-quarter results highlighted by robust revenue growth, record gross margins, and favorable pricing dynamics in a tightly supplied market. Notably, the company's full-year production capacity is committed under long-term agreements, providing strong revenue visibility. We believe Western Digital's leadership in high-capacity drive technology and its essential role within the AI data infrastructure ecosystem support a durable long-term growth trajectory. • Nebius Group is a specialized AI infrastructure company that provides a full-stack platform, including GPU-accelerated cloud computing, to help enterprises build, train, and deploy large-scale artificial intelligence models. The company has positioned itself as a leading next-generation cloud provider purpose-built for machine le...
Next-generation Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) batteries that charge in minutes are expected to add fuel to global sales of the country’s carmakers. An EV battery that goes from a 10 per cent to a 98 per cent charge in under six-and-a-half minutes was the star of the Super Technology Day event staged in Beijing in April by the world’s biggest producer of batteries for EVs, Contemporary Amperex Tech...
Next-generation Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) batteries that charge in minutes are expected to add fuel to global sales of the country’s carmakers. An EV battery that goes from a 10 per cent to a 98 per cent charge in under six-and-a-half minutes was the star of the Super Technology Day event staged in Beijing in April by the world’s biggest producer of batteries for EVs, Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL). Earlier, the world’s leading EV maker, Shenzhen-based BYD, unveiled a battery...
If you've ever wired money overseas, you know it's not nearly as easy as using fintech platforms like Zelle or PayPal 's (NASDAQ: PYPL) Venmo within the U.S. Indeed, moving money beyond the United States' border can be surprisingly complicated and time-consuming; these transactions are highly regulated. Nevertheless, the need is there, with some estimates putting the outbound (from the U.S.) amoun...
If you've ever wired money overseas, you know it's not nearly as easy as using fintech platforms like Zelle or PayPal 's (NASDAQ: PYPL) Venmo within the U.S. Indeed, moving money beyond the United States' border can be surprisingly complicated and time-consuming; these transactions are highly regulated. Nevertheless, the need is there, with some estimates putting the outbound (from the U.S.) amount alone at around $200 billion per year. Enter Remitly Global (NASDAQ: RELY) . Continue reading
rawintanpin/iStock via Getty Images Highlights During the first quarter of 2026, the largest portfolio sector weightings were Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary. The largest sector overweight was Information Technology and the largest sector underweight was Financials. The Financials and Industrials sectors contributed to relative performance while Consumer Discretionary and Energy ...
rawintanpin/iStock via Getty Images Highlights During the first quarter of 2026, the largest portfolio sector weightings were Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary. The largest sector overweight was Information Technology and the largest sector underweight was Financials. The Financials and Industrials sectors contributed to relative performance while Consumer Discretionary and Energy were among sectors that detracted from relative performance. Market Environment U.S. equities endured a turbulent first quarter, with the S&P 500 Index declining 4.33% as two distinct forces converged to reshape the investment landscape. The period began with a sharp recalibration across the software industry, as the emergence of agentic artificial intelligence ( AI ) tools raised questions about the durability of traditional software business models. Investors moved swiftly to reprice companies most exposed to AI disruption, triggering a broad sell-off that weighed heavily on the technology-heavy corners of the market. The dislocation also spilled into private credit, where several firms with outsized exposure to software faced redemption pressures. Despite this turbulence, the underlying economy remained strong through the opening months of the year — consumers continued to spend, and expectations held firm for another quarter of solid earnings growth within the S&P 500 Index. The second, and more consequential, disruption arrived in late February with the outbreak of the U.S.–Iran conflict and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a critical chokepoint through which roughly 20% of the world's seaborne oil transits. The resulting supply shock sent crude prices surging past $100 per barrel for the first time in four years, injecting potential inflationary pressure into an economy the Federal Reserve (Fed) had been carefully guiding lower. Higher energy costs complicated the Fed's rate-cutting path; markets entered the quarter pricing in two rate cuts in 2026 but...