The Next Newshttps://thenextnews.com/The Next News covers artificial intelligence, science, space, startups and tech policy, reported from research papers, official sources and the companies.en-US The high-seas biodiversity treaty in force since 2026 sets rules for marine researchhttps://thenextnews.com/science/bbnj-high-seas-biodiversity-agreement/https://thenextnews.com/science/bbnj-high-seas-biodiversity-agreement/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 15:50:00 +0000ScienceThe BBNJ Agreement took effect in January 2026, and the UN lists 105 parties. It sets rules for high-seas sampling, protected areas and impact checks. Under the EU's 2024 Cyber Resilience Act, vulnerability reporting has begun and full rules follow in 2027https://thenextnews.com/policy/eu-cyber-resilience-act-explained/https://thenextnews.com/policy/eu-cyber-resilience-act-explained/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 15:50:00 +0000Tech PolicyThe law in force since December 2024 makes product makers report exploited vulnerabilities from September 2026; its main security rules apply from 2027. What the EU's 2025 code of practice asks of general-purpose AI model providershttps://thenextnews.com/ai/eu-general-purpose-ai-code-of-practice/https://thenextnews.com/ai/eu-general-purpose-ai-code-of-practice/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 15:50:00 +0000AIPublished in July 2025, the voluntary code shows AI model makers one way to meet the AI Act's transparency, copyright and safety duties, now enforceable. FinCEN's 2025 rollback of beneficial ownership reports, and what still applies to startupshttps://thenextnews.com/startups/fincen-beneficial-ownership-reporting-us-companies-exempt/https://thenextnews.com/startups/fincen-beneficial-ownership-reporting-us-companies-exempt/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 15:50:00 +0000StartupsSince March 2025, companies formed in the US have not had to report their owners to FinCEN. A 2026 rule made it permanent; foreign companies still file. SpaceX's deorbit vehicle for the space station, from the 2024 award to a planned 2029 launchhttps://thenextnews.com/space/iss-us-deorbit-vehicle-spacex/https://thenextnews.com/space/iss-us-deorbit-vehicle-spacex/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 15:50:00 +0000SpaceNASA picked SpaceX in June 2024 to build the craft that will steer the station into a remote stretch of ocean. Its launch is now planned for July 2029. European Innovation Council's first defense equity call draws nine bids for €175 millionhttps://thenextnews.com/startups/eic-step-scale-up-defence-call-nine-applications-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/startups/eic-step-scale-up-defence-call-nine-applications-october-2026/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 14:00:00 +0000StartupsThe European Innovation Council's call, offering €10 million to €30 million per company, closed on October 28 with requests well above its €100 million budget. FTC and states sue Toast, alleging hidden fees and cancellation traps for restaurantshttps://thenextnews.com/policy/ftc-states-sue-toast-hidden-fees-cancellation-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/policy/ftc-states-sue-toast-hidden-fees-cancellation-october-2026/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 14:00:00 +0000Tech PolicyThe suit says the restaurant software and payments company hid fees, charged for add-ons without consent and made canceling hard. Toast has said it disagrees. Google gives its new Gemini 4 Carbon model to cyber defenders before a wider releasehttps://thenextnews.com/ai/google-gemini-4-carbon-cyber-defenders-first-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/ai/google-gemini-4-carbon-cyber-defenders-first-october-2026/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 14:00:00 +0000AIGoogle says its strongest model leads benchmarks for finding, exploiting and patching software flaws. Vetted security teams get it first. First cultures show the closest known archaeal relatives of complex cells are simple insidehttps://thenextnews.com/science/heimdallarchaeia-archaea-cultured-origin-of-eukaryotes-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/science/heimdallarchaeia-archaea-cultured-origin-of-eukaryotes-october-2026/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 14:00:00 +0000ScienceA JAMSTEC-led team grew two Heimdallarchaeia strains from a gas-well biofilm. They have no nucleus, do not breathe oxygen and depend on partner microbes. Sentinel-6B enters service, carrying the satellite sea-level record into the 2030shttps://thenextnews.com/space/sentinel-6b-enters-service-sea-level-record-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/space/sentinel-6b-enters-service-sea-level-record-october-2026/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 14:00:00 +0000SpaceThe satellite, operated by EUMETSAT, continues measurements begun in 1992 that show global sea level up more than 11.5 cm and rising faster. UK regulator investigates whether Meta's terms for publishers break competition lawhttps://thenextnews.com/policy/cma-investigates-meta-commercial-terms-publishers-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/policy/cma-investigates-meta-commercial-terms-publishers-october-2026/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:36:00 +0000Tech PolicyThe CMA says Meta's business terms could let it use content from publishers' websites, including for AI, without their say. Meta has paused a planned revision. NASA asks companies how they could boost or service Hubble before it falls from orbithttps://thenextnews.com/space/nasa-hubble-commercial-reboost-servicing-rfi-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/space/nasa-hubble-commercial-reboost-servicing-rfi-october-2026/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:36:00 +0000SpaceA request issued October 29 seeks ideas to raise Hubble's orbit, upgrade it or bring it down safely. NASA expects it to re-enter in 2033 or 2034. NIST releases open-source testbed to measure how privacy protections affect AI modelshttps://thenextnews.com/ai/nist-privacy-preserving-federated-learning-testbed-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/ai/nist-privacy-preserving-federated-learning-testbed-october-2026/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:36:00 +0000AIThe NIST tool compares models trained centrally or across separate sites, with and without differential privacy, on genetic data from 18,348 soybean samples. Meteorite found in the Sahara is a piece of Mars at least 4.1 billion years oldhttps://thenextnews.com/science/teghaza-001-mars-meteorite-ancient-crust-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/science/teghaza-001-mars-meteorite-ancient-crust-october-2026/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:36:00 +0000ScienceTeghaza 001, a rock of nearly 800 grams found in 2022, is a rare sample of ancient Martian crust that was altered by water, a study in Science reports. Funding for UK companies focused on AI more than doubled to £6.3 billion in 2025https://thenextnews.com/startups/uk-ai-companies-funding-6-3-billion-sector-study-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/startups/uk-ai-companies-funding-6-3-billion-sector-study-october-2026/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:36:00 +0000StartupsA UK government study counts 10,488 AI firms, up 79% in a year. Almost half of 2025's deals were first rounds, but two companies took almost half the money. ESA orders four more second-generation Galileo satellites, taking the fleet to 16https://thenextnews.com/space/esa-galileo-second-generation-four-more-satellites-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/space/esa-galileo-second-generation-four-more-satellites-october-2026/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000SpaceThales Alenia Space and Airbus will each build two more Galileo G2 satellites for delivery in 2031, as Indra Space signs on to develop new ground stations. ESA's Hera spacecraft sees asteroid Dimorphos as a separate object for the first timehttps://thenextnews.com/space/esa-hera-first-image-didymos-dimorphos-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/space/esa-hera-first-image-didymos-dimorphos-october-2026/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000SpaceHera's camera split the Didymos pair into two asteroids from 1,280 km away. Close-ups of the asteroid NASA's DART hit in 2022 are due on November 25. EU names its first harmonized standard for the AI Act, covering quality managementhttps://thenextnews.com/ai/eu-ai-act-first-harmonized-standard-en-18286/https://thenextnews.com/ai/eu-ai-act-first-harmonized-standard-en-18286/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000AIProviders of high-risk AI that follow EN 18286 are presumed to meet the AI Act's quality management rules, the European Commission said on October 19. FTC settlement would let Publicis buy LiveRamp if the data firm stays neutralhttps://thenextnews.com/policy/ftc-order-publicis-liveramp-acquisition/https://thenextnews.com/policy/ftc-order-publicis-liveramp-acquisition/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000Tech PolicyA proposed FTC consent order requires Publicis to keep LiveRamp's data services open to its rivals, and walled off from its own business, for five years. FTC orders Uber, Delta, Walmart and six others to say whether personal data sets priceshttps://thenextnews.com/policy/ftc-personalized-pricing-compensation-6b-orders-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/policy/ftc-personalized-pricing-compensation-6b-orders-october-2026/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000Tech PolicyThe FTC gave nine companies, from airlines to delivery apps, 45 days to explain whether personal data shapes the prices consumers pay and what gig workers earn. How AI content labels and watermarks work, and what the EU now requireshttps://thenextnews.com/ai/how-ai-content-labels-and-watermarks-work/https://thenextnews.com/ai/how-ai-content-labels-and-watermarks-work/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000AIInvisible watermarks, signed metadata and visible labels each flag AI-made content in a different way. Here is how they work and where each falls short. How the EU's Digital Services Act polices the biggest online platformshttps://thenextnews.com/policy/how-eu-digital-services-act-polices-big-platforms/https://thenextnews.com/policy/how-eu-digital-services-act-polices-big-platforms/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000Tech PolicyThe DSA gives platforms with over 45 million EU users extra duties and lets the Commission fine them up to 6% of global turnover. Here is how it works. How orbital decay works, and why it ended NASA's Swift observatoryhttps://thenextnews.com/space/how-orbital-decay-works-nasa-swift/https://thenextnews.com/space/how-orbital-decay-works-nasa-swift/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000SpaceEven thin air slows satellites in low Earth orbit, and an active Sun makes it worse. Here is how drag pulls spacecraft down, with Swift as the example. How peer review works, and what a preprint ishttps://thenextnews.com/science/how-peer-review-and-preprints-work/https://thenextnews.com/science/how-peer-review-and-preprints-work/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000ScienceA preprint is a study posted before outside experts have reviewed it. Here is how journal peer review works, and how to read each kind of paper. How startup funding works, from SAFEs to priced rounds and the SEC's Form Dhttps://thenextnews.com/startups/how-startup-funding-works-safes-priced-rounds-form-d/https://thenextnews.com/startups/how-startup-funding-works-safes-priced-rounds-form-d/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000StartupsEarly startups often raise on SAFEs, later rounds sell preferred stock at a set valuation, and private sales leave a trace on Form D. Here is how it works. NIST will deprecate RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography after 2030 in its final quantum planhttps://thenextnews.com/policy/nist-final-post-quantum-transition-plan-ir-8547-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/policy/nist-final-post-quantum-transition-plan-ir-8547-october-2026/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000Tech PolicyNIST's final transition report deprecates all quantum-vulnerable public-key algorithms after 2030 and disallows them after 2035, tightening its 2024 draft. Perseverance finds ultrafine Mars dust clinging to spacesuit materialshttps://thenextnews.com/space/perseverance-mars-dust-spacesuit-study-pnas/https://thenextnews.com/space/perseverance-mars-dust-spacesuit-study-pnas/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000SpaceOver 1,645 Martian days, NASA's rover measured dust particles as small as about 100 nanometers sticking to spacesuit samples, a hazard for future crews. Fintech startup Ramp reports a $1.85 billion stock offering to the SEChttps://thenextnews.com/startups/ramp-sec-form-d-1-85-billion-offering/https://thenextnews.com/startups/ramp-sec-form-d-1-85-billion-offering/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000StartupsA Form D filed on October 16 shows Ramp sold $1.585 billion of equity to 40 investors, a day after the company said it was valued at $60 billion. Rubin Observatory finds a possible dwarf planet beyond Pluto, designated 2026 ED138https://thenextnews.com/science/rubin-observatory-dwarf-planet-candidate-2026-ed138-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/science/rubin-observatory-dwarf-planet-candidate-2026-ed138-october-2026/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000ScienceThe object, about 46 au from the Sun and estimated at 600 to 1,500 km across, could be among the largest dwarf planet candidates found beyond Neptune. UK Budget offers startup founders a 10% capital gains tax rate on up to £10 millionhttps://thenextnews.com/startups/uk-budget-founders-relief-10-percent-cgt-october-2026/https://thenextnews.com/startups/uk-budget-founders-relief-10-percent-cgt-october-2026/Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:29:00 +0000StartupsFounders' Relief, due from April 2027, is aimed at fast-growing UK companies. The Budget also gives the British Business Bank £2 billion more to invest.