Ray Blanco:

Moon-Rice: Super-Dwarf Plant Developed To Feed Astronauts on Deep Space Missions

Long-duration space missions, such as those to the Moon or Mars, require a reliable source of fresh, nutritious food for survival. The current reliance on pre-packaged astronaut meals could be unsustainable for extended periods.

Now, the Moon-Rice project, a collaborative effort led by the Italian Space Agency and three Italian universities, aims to develop a “super-dwarf” rice variety ideal for sustained space habitation, microgravity, and extreme environments on Earth.

Milan researchers have successfully isolated mutant rice varieties that grow to a mere 10 cm, providing an excellent starting point for space-friendly crops. Meanwhile, a Rome team has pinpointed genes that can optimize plant architecture for maximum production.

The Moon-Rice project could also help tackle food security and sustainable agriculture here on Earth. The team notes that developing a robust crop for space means it could also thrive in challenging terrestrial environments like the Arctic, Antarctic, deserts, or small indoor spaces.

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James Altucher:

Nvidia Becomes First Company To Be Worth $4 Trillion

Nvidia is the first company to be worth $4 trillion.

The chipmaker’s shares rose as much as 2.5% on Wednesday, pushing past the previous market value record ($3.9 trillion), set by Apple in December 2024. Nvidia has rallied by more than 70% from its April 4 low, when global stock markets were sent reeling by President Donald Trump’s global tariff rollout.

The record value comes as tech giants such as OpenAI, Amazon and Microsoft are spending hundreds of billions of dollars in the race to build massive data centers to fuel the artificial intelligence revolution. All of those companies are using Nvidia chips to power their services.

In the first quarter of 2025 alone, the company reported its revenue soared about 70%, to more than $44 billion. Nvidia said it expects another $45 billion worth of sales in the current quarter.

Shares have surged nearly 20% this year on that explosive growth. Its shares are also higher by 1,500% over the course of the last five years. That also led Nvidia to unseat Microsoft in mid-June as the most valuable public company in the world.

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Ari Goldschmidt:

X CEO Linda Yaccarino Is Stepping Down After Two Years

Linda Yaccarino is stepping down as CEO of X, apparently effective immediately. She posted the news, naturally, on X, saying "I’m immensely grateful to [Elon Musk] for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App."

She went on to say that "the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable." Reasonable minds can differ on if any of those things have happened.

A few hours after Yaccarino's announcement, Musk offered a terse "Thank you for your contributions" in a post on X.

Among the many changes that have come to X since Yaccarino took over are decreased moderation, a greater reliance on "community notes" that aren't properly doing what they're intended to do and, most recently, an AI bot that spouts antisemitic hatespeech.

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