In a widely expected move, a committee organized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has voted to endorse removing restrictions on the manufacture of peptides for human use. Thursday's panel meeting saw a sharply divided group recommend lifting limits on four peptides; votes on three additional peptides are scheduled for today. The move comes despite a continuing lack of evidence regarding their safety and effectiveness.

The move had been telegraphed months earlier as peptide enthusiast and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took steps to ensure this outcome.

Like proteins, peptides are composed of amino acids that are chemically linked into a chain. Peptides differ merely by length; they're often 10–20 amino acids long, in contrast to proteins, which can be hundreds or thousands. Some of them, such as insulin, are specifically made by targeted processing of a protein into shorter fragments, and the resulting peptide interacts with receptors that have evolved to send signals to cells based on its levels.

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Meta avoided a closely watched social media addiction trial after the plaintiff dropped the remaining claim, leaving broader questions over platform design unresolved.

The post Why Meta Escaped a Landmark Social Media Lawsuit appeared first on TechRepublic.

Meta avoided a closely watched social media addiction trial after the plaintiff dropped the remaining claim, leaving broader questions over platform design unresolved.

The post Why Meta Escaped a Landmark Social Media Lawsuit appeared first on TechRepublic.

France will ban social media for children under 15, requiring nationwide age checks and raising privacy and platform compliance concerns.

The post France Bans Social Media for Under-15s, Requires Age Checks appeared first on TechRepublic.

Trump administration AI testing chief Chris Fall resigned after just 90 days, leaving CAISI under interim leadership during a critical period for AI safety standards.

The post Trump’s AI Safety Chief Is Out — After Just 90 Days on the Job appeared first on TechRepublic.

France will ban social media for children under 15, requiring nationwide age checks and raising privacy and platform compliance concerns.

The post France Bans Social Media for Under-15s, Requires Age Checks appeared first on TechRepublic.

Trump administration AI testing chief Chris Fall resigned after just 90 days, leaving CAISI under interim leadership during a critical period for AI safety standards.

The post Trump’s AI Safety Chief Is Out — After Just 90 Days on the Job appeared first on TechRepublic.

The bill forbids federal officials from asking a contractor to retaliate against someone else. A companion bill passed the Senate in May.

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The fresh security update resolves six critical and high-severity use-after-free vulnerabilities.

The post Chrome 150 Update Patches Severe Memory Safety Bugs appeared first on SecurityWeek.

Most of us deal with the same handful of headaches on our daily commute, from aggressive drivers and traffic congestion to the occasional speeding ticket. Here in Detroit, where I live, there are even some unique road and infrastructure designs that can make rush hour driving a challenge.

OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT's teen safety features with age prediction, break reminders, and stronger parental controls, while defending why teens deserve AI access at all.

On Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released preliminary findings verifying Elon Musk’s and Tesla’s claims that a driver involved in a fatal Texas crash that killed a grandmother overrode Full Self Driving in the moments ahead of impact.

Last month, 44-year-old Michael Butler told police that the autopilot feature was engaged at the time of the crash. On X, Musk disputed the claim, writing that Butler must have overridden the feature because “FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets, and this was a high-speed crash!” Moving to back Musk’s claim, Tesla’s vice president of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, said that internal data showed “the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100 percent of the accel pedal in this residential area.”

NTSB’s preliminary report, which does not yet determine what caused the crash, confirmed Tesla’s claims. Its probe found that FSD was engaged at the time of the crash, but electronic data showed “the driver manually overrode FSD (Supervised) by pressing the accelerator pedal to 100 percent.”

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Google disputes a child-safety assessment of AI Overviews and AI Mode, arguing that its testing was unrealistic. The report documents troubling responses and questions whether parents have enough control over Search.

The UK plans a midnight-to-6 a.m. social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds, with autoplay and personalised feeds switched off by default from spring 2027.

The post UK to Introduce Midnight Social Media Curfew for Older Teens appeared first on TechRepublic.

The UK plans a midnight-to-6 a.m. social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds, with autoplay and personalised feeds switched off by default from spring 2027.

The post UK to Introduce Midnight Social Media Curfew for Older Teens appeared first on TechRepublic.

A number of social media posts claim that GPT-5.6 Sol deleted files and data without warning. OpenAI had basically disclosed the problem in June.

EU regulators preliminarily found Meta’s Facebook and Instagram design addictive, raising the prospect of app changes and a potential $12.1 billion fine.

The post Meta Faces EU Breach Finding Over Addictive Facebook, Instagram Design appeared first on TechRepublic.

EU regulators preliminarily found Meta’s Facebook and Instagram design addictive, raising the prospect of app changes and a potential $12.1 billion fine.

The post Meta Faces EU Breach Finding Over Addictive Facebook, Instagram Design appeared first on TechRepublic.

Governments worldwide are introducing or considering social media bans for children, as concerns over mental health, online safety, and addictive algorithms continue to reshape digital policy.

Droughts in the United States are becoming more intense and unpredictable, and the nation needs to develop a new drought assessment framework to better understand and address them, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

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