The computer science collaboration will understand and explain a result concerning the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH), a longstanding conjecture about the computational complexity of Boolean formula satisfiability, a problem deeply related to the P vs. NP problem. The ETH has been widely believed to be true, and has been used in hundreds of papers to derive conditional computational hardness results across a wide variety of fields including graph theory, computational biology, databases, computational geometry, and more. Surprisingly, our system has recently proved that the ETH is false, a result that was subsequently verified in Lean. The refutation of the ETH reopens questions about how much faster these tasks could become, and may help guide the search for better algorithms. Finding such algorithms, and turning theoretical advances into practical improvements, will require significant further research.

Apple has removed ICEBlock, which allows users to track and report the location of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, from its App Store. "We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps," Apple said in a statement to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister company. "Based on information we've received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store."

The app, created in April, allows users to track where ICE officers are and pin their locations. Those within a five-mile radius of the pinned officers would receive a notification. Fox Business reported Thursday that Attorney General Pam Bondi asked Apple to remove ICEBlock from the App Store. The Hill has reached out to the Justice Department (DOJ) for comment.

[Lead author Stephen] Wallace and his research team at the University of Edinburgh managed to trigger a natural process within a living Escherichia coli bacterium — a chemical reaction that until now had only been observed in test tubes. Specifically, they achieved the transformation of acid-derived molecules into key compounds used in drug production — such as paracetamol — through a process known as the Lossen rearrangement. The team succeeded in reproducing this reaction inside bacteria using only the microbes themselves, without relying on complex laboratory catalysts. "The interesting thing is that we didn’t have to teach the bacteria how to do the reaction: the trick was realizing they already had the tools and just had to be guided," Wallace explains.

... although the scientists believe their work shows “exciting potential,” there is still a long way to go before this microbe-made paracetamol is ready for medical use.

"The Artemis campaign is the most daring, technically challenging, collaborative, international endeavor humanity has ever set out to do," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "We have made significant progress on the Artemis campaign over the past four years, and I'm proud of the work our teams have done to prepare us for this next step forward in exploration as we look to learn more about Orion's life support systems to sustain crew operations during Artemis II. We need to get this next test flight right. That’s how the Artemis campaign succeeds."

The outage of 911 systems in [Nevada, South Dakota, and Nebraska] Wednesday [April 18] evening was caused by the installation of a light pole, according to Lumen, a company that supports some of those systems.

Molzen declined to elaborate on exactly how the light pole installation resulted in the 911 outage, or where the pole was located. The 911 director in Douglas County, Nebraska, which encompasses Omaha, said in a statement Lumen informed the county the outage was related to a “fiber cut.”

“I watched the launch and landing of this mission, and while saying goodbye to a spacecraft is always sad, the fascinating science InSight conducted is cause for celebration,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “The seismic data alone from this Discovery Program mission offers tremendous insights not just into Mars but other rocky bodies, including Earth.”