TurtleTree’s animal-free lactoferrin, called LF+, attained self-affirmed generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status in November 2023, a first for precision-fermentation-derived lactoferrin. (That self-affirmed status means the FDA is not directly involved, though a panel of experts assessed its safety according to federal guidelines and language.) LF+ is the winner of Fast Company’s 2024 World Changing Ideas Awards in the Asia-Pacific region category. Through the precision-fermentation process, the lactoferrin comes out as a fine, pink powder, similar to what other lactoferrin manufacturers produce. With GRAS status, TurtleTree is now on the way to commercialization. The company announced its first commercial partnership in May with Cadence Performance Coffee, in which LF+ will be added into an espresso shot. More partnerships are in the works, and the company says these lactoferrin-based products will be ready for consumers in a few months.

When Quentin Tarantino and the movie studio Miramax agreed on the rights to “Pulp Fiction” in the early 1990s, cryptocurrency didn’t exist. Now, Mr. Tarantino is courting controversy — with a crypto twist — over ownership of the cult movie’s script that could set a legal precedent for intellectual property rights. On Wednesday, the director announced auctions of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, associated with his original handwritten screenplay, despite a pending lawsuit by Miramax.

The hospital’s online MoodNetwork recruits patients with major depression and bipolar disorder for clinical studies, including a new one with the Boston-based artificial intelligence company Cogito. They are testing the ability of a mobile app called “Companion” to flag early signs of trouble by monitoring activities like patients’ movement, calling and texting behavior, and the way they speak. Such “passive monitoring” could be more reliable than asking patients to track their conditions by keeping a paper diary or answering questions in apps like DBSA Wellness Tracker.

It's also possible for an attacker to eavesdrop on a cell phone call. But this being a ~50 minute cable series, creative license does ultimately rear its head. And unfortunately, the hack Elliot used wouldn't work to do the eavesdropping as we understand infosec today. Instead, the show (rightfully) took a few artistic liberties when demonstrating how such an attack would happen.

As of late, the fantasy topic of “who’s dominating OpenStack” seems to be tops on the speculation list. Speculation, hype, and colorful personalities have always generated a large amount of individual attention within OpenStack, but a particularly hot topic lately seems to be who will take control of the project and become the dominant OpenStack-based solution. Despite the assertions and commentary, there is no “king of OpenStack” — and there never will be.

More than half of principals said their schools were understaffed at the start of the current school year, according to a survey published Tuesday in the Education Department’s first national examination of the school staffing problem since the pandemic began. The National Center for Education Statistics survey of 904 principals conducted in August found that 53% of principals felt their schools were short workers, with 60% saying they were unable to fill nonteaching positions and 48% unable to fill teaching positions.