Warhound Raises $200 Million for Military Dog Program

A new startup called Warhound has raised $200 million to genetically modify dogs for military service. The company, founded by Palmer Luckey, plans to use gene editing and cloning to enhance the animals' abilities to detect explosives and protect troops.

Sequoia is among the investors in the new funding round. Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology firm, is assisting with the specific cloning and gene-editing work required for the project. The startup states that the genetic enhancements will improve the working capabilities of the canines in field operations.

In a separate medical development, Moderna and Merck reported that their mRNA cancer vaccine reduced death rates by 42% in clinical trials. The therapy also lowered the risk of cancer recurrence among patients with melanoma. These results represent a notable advance in the use of mRNA technology for oncology treatments.

Researchers also reported that prime editing, a new gene-editing tool, has reached its first human patient. The technique allows scientists to rewrite DNA specifically in liver cells. This milestone marks the first time the method has been applied to a living person in a clinical setting.

On the cybersecurity front, vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language have been disclosed, but no successful attacks have been reported yet. Experts indicate that the flaws are harder to exploit than initially feared. Website operators were urged to apply patches after the issues caused outages globally. Software developer Ian Landsman praised volunteer Ondřej Surý for his work on the patches, calling him an unsung hero of the internet. Landsman wrote that if anything happens to Surý, everyone is screwed.

In the energy sector, Google is launching a virtual power plant that pays customers to free up electricity for its data centers. The program rewards individuals for adjusting their energy use patterns. However, another report stated that Google illegally felled 250,000 trees in Finland for a data center project. This finding adds to ongoing scrutiny of the company's environmental impact.

President Donald Trump stated that Elon Musk had restored Ukraine's access to Starlink. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky countered that Starlink speeds in Ukraine remain capped. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump has asked Musk to lift these speed limits. The dispute highlights ongoing tensions over satellite internet access in the conflict zone.