Artificial intelligence tools used by doctors risk leading to worse health outcomes for women and ethnic minorities, as a growing body of research shows that many large language models downplay the symptoms of these patients.

A series of recent studies have found that the uptake of AI models across the healthcare sector could lead to biased medical decisions, reinforcing patterns of under treatment that already exist across different groups in western societies.

The findings by researchers at leading US and UK universities suggest that medical AI tools powered by LLMs have a tendency to not reflect the severity of symptoms among female patients, while also displaying less “empathy” towards Black and Asian ones.

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Welcome to Edition 8.11 of the Rocket Report! We have reached the time of year when it is possible the US government will shut down its operations at the end of this month, depending on congressional action. A shutdown would have significant implications for many NASA missions, but most notably a couple of dozen in the science directorate that the White House would like to shut down. At Ars, we will be watching this issue closely in the coming days. As for Artemis II, it seems to be far enough along that a launch next February seems possible as long as any government closure does not drag on for weeks and weeks.

As always, we welcome reader submissions , and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Rocket Lab to sell common shares . The space company said Tuesday that it intends to raise up to $750 million by selling common shares, MSN reports . This new at-the-market program replaces a prior agreement that allowed Rocket Lab to sell up to $500 million of stock. Under that earlier arrangement, the company had sold roughly $396.6 million in shares before ending the program.

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Federal prosecutors charged a UK teenager with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and other crimes in connection with the network intrusions of 47 US companies that generated more than $115 million in ransomware payments over a three-year span.

A criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday (PDF) said that Thalha Jubair, 19, of London, was part of Scattered Spider, the name of an English-language-speaking group that has breached the networks of scores of companies worldwide. After obtaining data, the group demanded that the victims pay hefty ransoms or see their confidential data published or sold.

Bitcoin paid by victims recovered

The unsealing of the document, filed in US District Court of the District of New Jersey, came the same day Jubair and another alleged Scattered Spider member—Owen Flowers, 18, from Walsall, West Midlands—were charged by UK prosecutors in connection with last year’s cyberattack on Transport for London . The agency, which oversees London’s public transit system, faced a monthslong recovery effort as a result of the breach.

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The panel of vaccine advisors hand-selected by anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted on Thursday to change the federal vaccine recommendations for children, removing safe, well-established vaccine doses from current schedules and realizing Kennedy's anti-vaccine agenda to erode federal vaccine policy and sow distrust.

Specifically, the panel—the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—voted to remove the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's previous recommendation for use of a measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox) MMRV combination vaccine for children under 4 years old.

The context

In June, Kennedy fired all 17 highly qualified, highly vetted members of ACIP and quickly replaced them with seven questionable members, who largely did not have subject matter expertise. Moreover, many of them have clearly expressed anti-vaccine rhetoric and skepticism about pandemic responses and COVID-19 vaccines. At least two new members have been paid witnesses in trials against vaccine makers, a clear conflict of interest. Last week, Kennedy added five additional members, who raise the same anti-vaccine concerns as the first group.

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Does alcohol enhance one's foreign language fluency? Do West African lizards have a preferred pizza topping? And can painting cows with zebra stripes help repel biting flies? These and other unusual research questions were honored tonight in a virtual ceremony to announce the 2025 recipients of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes. Yes, it's that time of year again, when the serious and the silly converge—for science.

Established in 1991, the Ig Nobels are a good-natured parody of the Nobel Prizes; they honor "achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think." The unapologetically campy awards ceremony features miniature operas, scientific demos, and the 24/7 lectures whereby experts must explain their work twice: once in 24 seconds and the second in just seven words.

Acceptance speeches are limited to 60 seconds. And as the motto implies, the research being honored might seem ridiculous at first glance, but that doesn't mean it's devoid of scientific merit. In the weeks following the ceremony, the winners will also give free public talks, which will be posted on the Improbable Research website.

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As Air Force One journeyed from the US to the UK this week, it came within eight lateral miles of a Spirit Airlines flight heading up the East Coast from Fort Lauderdale to Boston. An alert air traffic controller in the New York control center reached out to the Spirit flight, telling it to execute an immediate right turn to avoid any possibility of colliding with Air Force One.

But the Spirit pilots did not respond immediately, leading the testy air traffic controller to scold them repeatedly. (You can listen to the audio archive on LiveATC.net; it begins at around the 23:15 mark.)

"Pay attention!" said the controller after his first instruction was not acknowledged. "Spirit 1300, turn 20 degrees right."

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Now that it's looking like Chrome will remain in the Google fold , the browser is undergoing a Gemini-infused rebirth. Google claims the browser will see its most significant upgrade ever in the next few weeks as AI permeates every part of the experience. For people who use AI tools, some of these additions might actually be helpful, and for everyone else, well, Firefox still exists.

The most prominent change, and one that AI subscribers may have already seen, is the addition of a Gemini button on the desktop browser. This button opens a popup where you can ask questions about—and get summaries of—content in your open tabs. Android phones already have Gemini operating at the system level to accomplish similar tasks, but Google says the iOS Gemini app will soon be built into Chrome for Apple devices.

Credit: Google

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Running a day late, Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo freighter pulled alongside the International Space Station on Thursday, delivering more than 5 tons of supplies and experiments to the lab's seven-person crew.

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim took control of the space station's robotic arm to capture the Cygnus spacecraft at 7:24 am EDT (11:24 UTC) on Thursday. A short time later, the robot arm positioned the spacecraft over an attachment port on the station's Unity module, and 16 bolts drove closed to create a firm mechanical connection with the ISS.

The Cygnus XL supply ship will remain at the station for up to six months, during which time astronauts will unpack the spacecraft's cargo module and refill it with trash. The Cygnus spacecraft will depart the station and head for a destructive reentry over the remote Pacific Ocean to conclude the mission.

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Days after someone revealed the news on social media, Samsung confirmed today that it is showing advertisements on some US customers’ smart fridges. Samsung said the ads showing on some Family Hub-series fridges are part of a pilot program, but we suspect that they may become more permanent additions to Samsung fridges and/or other types of screen-equipped smart home appliances.

In a statement sent to Ars Technica, Samsung confirmed that it is “conducting a pilot program to offer promotions and curated advertisements on certain Samsung Family Hub refrigerator models in the US market.”

Samsung currently lists nine Family Hub refrigerators in the US, which have MSRPs ranging from $1,800 to $3,500 . Family Hub fridges have 21.5- or 32-inch screens, which, until now, users have had autonomy over for displaying helpful or fun things, like photos and videos, memos, weather, timers, and a web browser. Some of those abilities require a Wi-Fi connection or a Samsung account.

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