Science & Technology — October 23, 2026

First prime editing inside the human body. Researchers used prime editing, a high-precision form of CRISPR, to alter DNA inside a living patient, treating a genetic disease affecting the liver and nervous system.

Nature · Read more →

Startup raises $200M to gene-edit military dogs. Warhound, co-founded by Colossal's Ben Lamm and Anduril's Palmer Luckey, emerged from stealth with $200 million to clone and gene-edit dogs for military and law enforcement work.

TechCrunch · Read more →

Hackers exploit major web flaw. Attackers began exploiting the PHP2Shell vulnerability -- discovered by AI tools -- four days before defenders were notified. Dozens of UK government services went offline as a global patching race continues.

According to Axios, the flaw belongs to a class of hidden code defects that may have left everyday websites exposed for years before AI tools recently surfaced them. The outlet reports the OpenAI-technology-driven discoveries have created what it calls a cyber emergency, with attackers gaining a four-day head start over defenders. Organizations worldwide are now rushing to apply patches while affected UK government services remain disrupted.

Axios · Read more →

mRNA cancer vaccine delivers in Phase 3. Full trial data presented at ESMO confirm Moderna and Merck's personalized mRNA vaccine reduced melanoma recurrence and death by 42% versus standard treatment alone.

The companies had previously announced that the trial met its goals and released top-line results, but the complete Phase 3 dataset was presented publicly for the first time at the ESMO oncology meeting. The full figures back up the earlier headline finding, showing the personalized vaccine combined with standard treatment outperformed standard treatment by itself in preventing melanoma recurrence and death.

Ars Technica · Read more →