Modern social life often begins on screen. Digital profiles invite us to inspect the lives - and social circles - of friends, colleagues and strangers. Before meeting someone new, chances are we may have scanned their Instagram, LinkedIn or dating profile, forming assumptions from a carefully curated snapshot of their life. Somewhere along the way, we've forgotten the value of a considered, human introduction as the foundation for genuine connection. Bridget Jones's Shazza had it right when she said that making introductions with thoughtful details can go a long way: mentioning an unexpected talent or hobby, highlighting a mutual interest or sharing a funny anecdote.

A competition calling for research projects involving so-called AI scientists shows just how fast this technology is moving. A number of startups and universities that are building "AI scientists" to design and run experiments in the lab, including robot biologists and chemists, have just won extra funding from the UK government agency that funds moonshot R&D. The competition, set up by ARIA (the Advanced Research and Invention Agency), gives a clear sense of how fast this technology is moving: The agency received 245 proposals from research teams that are already building tools capable of automating increasing amounts of lab work. ARIA defines an AI scientist as a system that can run an entire scientific workflow, coming up with hypotheses, designing and running experiments to test those hypotheses, and then analyzing the results. In many cases, the system may then feed those results back into itself and run the loop again and again. Human scientists become overseers, coming up with the initial research questions and then letting the AI scientist get on with the grunt work.

The man who made India digital isn't done yet Nandan Nilekani can't stop trying to push India into the future. He started nearly 30 years ago, masterminding an ongoing experiment in technological state capacity that started with Aadhaar--the world's largest digital identity system. Using Aadhaar as the bedrock, Nilekani and people working with him went on to build a sprawling collection of free, interoperating online tools that add up to nothing less than a digital infrastructure for society, covering government services, banking, and health care. They offer convenience and access that would be eye-popping in wealthy countries a tenth of India's size. At 70 years old, Nilekani should be retired. But he has a few more ideas.

Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz's wedding guest speaks out and claims Victoria DID dance inappropriately with her son Stocks set to plunge and Wall Street fear gauge surges over Trump's Greenland tariff threats AMANDA PLATELL: This single line in Brooklyn Beckham's nuclear outburst is brutal... but it's made me rethink EVERYTHING about Victoria and David Cut BACK on breakfast cereal. Knott's Berry Farm thrill seeker taught painful lesson after trying to cut line at crowded theme park Denver man is arrested for first degree murder of two-year-old... as his sordid child abuse history comes to light I got the'taboo' cancer soaring among women. Treatment saved my life... but I can NEVER have sex again. It didn't have to be like this The six WORST foods for your gut health, revealed by experts.. and it's bad news if you're a fan of sliced bread, fizzy drinks and oysters The Alexander brothers' glittering real estate empire and untouchable playboy status hangs in the balance as sex trafficking trial begins The children of the Iranian regime elite flaunting their wealth and luxury lifestyles... as thousands are slaughtered for daring to stand up to their families Indiana coach Curt Cignetti's obsession with Chipotle goes viral during college playoff final Dark side of America's favorite vacation hotspot... where women are subjected to the most horrific sex attacks imaginable Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the hottest actor in Hollywood... then vanished: Unearthing family tragedy that sparked disappearance and has left'lasting' scars Tragic details emerge about Canadian woman, 19, found dead and surrounded by dingoes on K'gari We were $460,000 in debt. We weren't high earners and paid it off using simple but life-changing tricks... anyone can do it Meghan Markle's series With Love, Meghan'won't be returning to Netflix for another season' China's real-life'robocops': City deploys AI-powered humanoid police officer that barks orders at civilians and works'around the clock' NASA has revealed the sharpest ever look at the edge of a black hole, and it could solve a decades-old galactic mystery.

A large Russian aerial strike on Ukraine has again left half of Kyiv's residential buildings without heating or power as temperatures across the country continue to hover around -10C. Drones, ballistic and cruise missiles targeted several locations in Ukraine, including Kyiv, Dnipro in the centre and Odesa in the south. Air raid alerts in the capital lasted for most of the night. On Tuesday, sirens rang out again as Russian drones and cruise missiles approached the capital. President Volodymyr Zelensky said a significant number of targets had been intercepted.

How to claim Verizon's $20 outage credit He gave millions in seed funding. Part of a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit status claims Musk is owed anywhere from $79 billion to $134 billion in damages for the "wrongful gains" of OpenAI and Microsoft. Musk claims in the filing that he's entitled to a chunk of the company's recent $500 billion valuation, after contributing $38 million in "seed funding" during the AI company's early years. It wasn't just money -- according to the filing, Musk helped advise on key employee recruitment, introductions with business contacts and startup advice. If this sounds familiar, it's because the lawsuit dates back to March 2024.

Flow Neuroscience receives FDA approval for FL-100 depression device showing 58% symptom improvement. The home-use brain stimulation headset will be available in 2026.

More and more Chinese adoptees in the US are trying to reunite with their birth parents. For Youxue, it took more than a decade, and a remarkable coincidence. A girl is found on a street in Ma'Anshan, China, in May 1993. Her paternal grandfather, the story goes, set her down and walked away. It's unclear how long she's been outside when somebody arrives and takes her to the orphanage. A white woman adopts the girl and brings her to America in August 1994. She gives her an English name. In spring 2010, when Youxue (her Chinese name) was a high school sophomore in Dallas, Texas, she decided to start searching for her birth parents.

China's lithium batteries aren't always "made in China." Companies like BYD and CATL are building factories on nearly every continent. THE symbolism was clear last June when Emmanuel Macron, surrounded by factory workers, held up a sleek lithium battery in his right hand and a mining lamp in his left. He was in Douai, a northern French city with a coal mining history dating back to the 1700s. The city is now also the site of a battery factory, which would allow France to produce all parts of electric vehicles domestically. This factory, Macron declared, represented an "economic and ecological revolution."

He Went to Prison for Gene-Editing Babies. Now He's Planning to Do It Again Chinese scientist He Jiankui wants to end Alzheimer's and thinks Silicon Valley is conducting a "Nazi eugenic experiment." In 2018, a nervous-looking He Jiankui took the stage at a scientific conference in Hong Kong. A hush settled over the packed auditorium as the soft-spoken Chinese scientist adjusted his microphone and confirmed the circulating media reports: He had created the world's first gene-edited babies . Three little girls were born with modifications to their genomes that were intended to protect them against HIV. The changes he'd made to their DNA were permanent and heritable, meaning they could be passed down to future generations.