Authored by T.J. Muscaro via The Epoch Times,
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told members of the Air Force and Space Force that communist China will land on the moon, and it's imperative that the United States return to the lunar surface first.
"You are witnessing a very energized NASA, and we will need to be, as we are in the midst of a very real second space race," he said during his keynote address to the Air and Space Forces Association's annual conference on Sept. 15. "China will accomplish what the Soviets never could."
He told the Airmen and Guardians that communist China has demonstrated rocket reusability and developed a plan to land their astronauts - called taikonauts - with just two rocket launches, while NASA will need at least four to do the same. China also seeks to build a nuclear-powered moon base on the lunar south pole with the Russians.
"History has shown they could even be early, and we could easily be late," he said.
"Success in this endeavor will be measured in months, not years."
The China National Space Administration has announced plans to land taikonauts on the moon by 2030, while NASA aims to return its astronauts to the lunar surface before the end of 2028.
But Isaacman made it clear that this race is about far more than just bragging rights.
"Our allies and adversaries are watching," he said. "So is every nation deciding whose technology to buy, whose standards to adopt, whose security relationships to deepen, and whose vision of the future to follow, and, perhaps most importantly, our children will be watching, and the hopes and dreams of a generation inspired by these kinds of Apollo 11-like moments [are] really on the line."
One advantage he said that the United States did have over its communist adversaries was the booming commercial space industry pioneering reusable heavy-lift capabilities. But he added that NASA was not on a path to win this new space race until recently.
"I'm thankful for the reality that the Chinese have a plan to potentially, you know, to likely deny that critical area on the lunar south pole because it's given us the latitude to fix what is broken, to stop all the external impositions, the self-inflicted wounds that we had in our strategy, and bring extreme focus and mission," he said.
Some of those self-inflicted wounds included an inefficient launch cadence of both the Space Launch System moon rocket and robotic missions to the lunar surface, the decision to prioritize a lunar space station over a surface base, and a general lack of sufficient focus on winning the race.
Now, thanks to President Donald Trump's space policy, Isaacman said that moon rocket production was becoming standardized to increase launch capabilities, robotic missions will be flying to the moon at a cadence of almost once a month starting in 2027, and an unapologetic focus was put back on establishing a permanent human presence on the surface.
"Fortunately, we have a president who understands that great nations remain great by continuously undertaking and achieving the kind of big, bold endeavors that define American exceptionalism," he said. "These are no longer just stories in history books. This is what you've been waiting for, and this is our time.
"This is the golden age. We are going back. We are going back to stay, to build the base. We are doing it together to show the world once again what America is capable of achieving and inspire the next generation to pick up the fire of exploration and carry it farther than we ever could."
Tyler Durden Thu, 09/17/2026 - 22:35Scientists at Stanford University have created mice whose brains are largely built from human cells, a shocking, first-of-its-kind experiment that is raising serious questions about how far researchers should be allowed to go.
In a study published Wednesday in Nature, Stanford neuroscientist Sergiu Pașca said the development represents the most extensive integration of human neural tissue into an animal ever achieved.
The researchers started by genetically engineering mice so that most of the cells meant to form the cortex and hippocampus died off early in development. Those regions normally account for roughly half of a mouse's brain. The animals survived as other parts of the brain picked up the slack, though they were more forgetful and slightly clumsy.
Then scientists filled the empty space with human brain organoids, tiny clusters of neurons grown from reprogrammed human skin cells. Newborn mice received several injections totaling a few hundred thousand human cells.
Within two to three months, the human tissue had grown nearly fivefold, filling more than 90% of the vacant cortex and reaching about four million human neurons. The grafts hooked into the mouse's blood supply, fired electrical signals, and extended fibers all the way down to the spinal cord.
Researchers also spotted rare human cell types that have been difficult to grow in a lab, including neurons resembling von Economo cells, which are linked to social behavior.
Still, the researchers were quick to stress that these are merely mice, not "thinking like humans." The animals retain mouse senses, mouse bodies and the deeper structures of a mouse brain. In behavioral testing, they appeared largely like ordinary mice. In fact, the study claimed that the human tissue appeared to improve the mice's performance during maze tests than those left without most of their cortex.
"We've been trying really hard as a community to find therapeutic solutions for these conditions, but the reality is that in psychiatry and neurology we've been left behind [by] every single branch of medicine and we have fewer therapeutics than, again, every single branch of medicine," said Pașca in a statement obtained by The Guardian. "That could be because the human brain is very complex, but it's also because the human brain is inaccessible. To a large extent, our goal has been to make aspects of human brain development and function accessible for investigation."
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Tyler Durden Thu, 09/17/2026 - 22:10Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,
A dozen operators of allegedly fake daycare sites in Southern California were arrested last week on suspicion of stealing an estimated $10 million in funding, Justice Department officials announced on Sept. 15.
On Sept. 10, federal agents swarmed the San Diego-area homes listed as daycares by the operators and arrested the suspects, six males and six females.
Nine of the defendants entered the United States as refugees or asylum seekers from Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, according to court records. Eleven have since become naturalized citizens, according to Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division.
"There were no children. There were no daycares. These daycares were fake and the taxpayers were paying for all of it," McDonald said during a news conference.
Each defendant was charged with one federal count of wire fraud in Operation Cradle to Grift. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine.
Some defendants are also charged with money laundering, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which carries the same maximum prison term and fine.
"Fraud against these programs is an attack on vulnerable families, and law enforcement will continue to dismantle schemes that exploit them," McDonald said.
Criminal investigators followed a money train, uncovering more than $10 million in fraudulent billing, according to Chief Jarod Koopman of the IRS's criminal investigations division.
"This is not a victimless crime," Koopman said. "It deprived working parents of critical support and eroded trust in programs meant to protect the most vulnerable in our communities."
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sends federal funds to California to help low-income families pay for childcare. In San Diego County, childcare subsidy programs are administered by the county, the nonprofit Child Development Associates, and the YMCA.
When a family qualifies for funding, the childcare providers are paid directly after the provider submits monthly attendance records. The records are signed by the provider and the parents.
California laws prevent schools and childcare centers from collecting or sharing immigration information, allowing all parents to apply for the state's subsidized and free daycare assistance, which is paid in part by federal grant funding.
State law requires licensed childcare providers to be on site and ensure that children are supervised at all times. The 12 cases investigated in the San Diego area are unrelated, but they allegedly used the same formula, according to the DOJ.
The defendants allegedly were granted a childcare operating license by a California state agency and registered with the local programs.
Investigators accused the defendants of submitting fake attendance records and signing affidavits saying that they were accurate. Using the false records, the programs paid the operators with government funds, according to the allegations.
In one case, Abdulrahman Ayman Alawad, 25, a Syrian who lives in El Cajon, allegedly claimed that he provided childcare to 23 kids in March and 25 in April. He eventually received more than $300,000 in payments from San Diego County, the nonprofit Child Development Associates, and the YMCA in 2025, according to court records.
Alawad allegedly said he provided childcare every day of those two months. Investigators claimed that surveillance footage showed children entering or exiting the facility on just one day during those two months, which was the day a state inspector showed up for an unannounced visit.
Prosecutors also accused Alawad and several other defendants of submitting records claiming to have provided childcare at their homes when border crossing records showed that they were not in the United States.
Each defendant earned $538,000 to $1.2 million during their alleged schemes, which lasted from months to years, prosecutors said.
"Today is a bad day for home daycare fraud," said Adam Gordon, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California.
Besides Alawad, the defendants are Fosiya Mohamoud, 50, of El Cajon, from Somalia; Zetun Abdi, 43, of San Diego, from Somalia; Ikramullah Mohmmand, 25, of El Cajon, from Afghanistan; Khetam Haouash, 37, of El Cajon, from Syria; Khatera Hashimi, 39, of El Cajon, from Afghanistan; Mariam Khamis, 42, of San Diego, from Sudan; Mohamad Alawad, 29, of San Diego, from Syria; Mazin Alawad, 22, of San Diego, from Syria; Turkiya Alawad, 63, of San Diego, from Syria; Zaryab Daudzai, 25, of El Cajon, from Afghanistan; and Cezar Yaqoob, 36, of El Cajon, from Iraq.
The operation was the work of the DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division, a task force to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in federal benefit programs chaired by Vice President JD Vance.
It was unclear whether the defendants had legal representation. They could not be contacted for comment.
Tyler Durden Thu, 09/17/2026 - 21:45