Relaying what matters next.

The Relay is a new media project dedicated to covering slightly futuristic domains such as artificial intelligence, space exploration, longevity science, crypto and blockchain, advanced biology, and defense technologies. Our mission is to capture the signals of tomorrow and relay them forward with clarity, depth, and context.

What's happening today?

One-shot OA gene therapy could bend the healthspan curve

One-shot OA gene therapy could bend the healthspan curve

Peer-reviewed 2025 data show a single AAV knee injection can drive year-long IL‑1Ra expression, while Pacira’s PCRX‑201 posts three-year follow-up and advances to Phase 2. Durable, local gene delivery may finally modify osteoarthritis.

Europa Clipper’s narrow window to skim 3I/ATLAS’s tail

Europa Clipper’s narrow window to skim 3I/ATLAS’s tail

From October 30 to November 6, 2025, Europa Clipper may cross the ion tail of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. With small, low-risk tweaks to pointing and data cadence, NASA and ESA could capture the first in-situ signatures from an interstellar tail.

ETF-ization Comes to DeFi: 21Shares Files HYPE ETF

ETF-ization Comes to DeFi: 21Shares Files HYPE ETF

A late-October filing by 21Shares to list a HYPE token ETF could mark a new phase for DeFi just as the SEC weighs key altcoin decisions. Here is how liquidity, custody, staking, and perps might change next.

Microsoft’s Unified Agent Framework Exits the Lab for Work

Microsoft’s Unified Agent Framework Exits the Lab for Work

Microsoft has folded AutoGen and Semantic Kernel into a single, open-source Agent Framework with typed workflows, built-in observability, human approval gates, and cross-runtime interop. Here is what changed and how to ship with it this week.

Agentic Commerce Arrives: Inside ChatGPT Instant Checkout

Agentic Commerce Arrives: Inside ChatGPT Instant Checkout

Late 2025 pushed AI agents from demos into real checkout flows. See what the Agentic Commerce Protocol standardizes, why retailers and networks are racing to copy or complement it, and a 30-60-90 day plan to get agent ready before the holidays.

Ethereum’s L1 zkEVM is moving from roadmap to reality

Ethereum’s L1 zkEVM is moving from roadmap to reality

In October 2025, the Ethereum Foundation’s plan for an optional Layer 1 zkEVM hit real-time proving milestones. Here is how verification could roll out over the next year, why home proving matters, and what builders should ship before Devconnect.

Cape Station Phase II signals enhanced geothermal is baseload

Cape Station Phase II signals enhanced geothermal is baseload

A pair of September–October 2025 supplier awards and a fully contracted 500 megawatts turned Fervo Energy’s Cape Station from pilot to bankable project. Here is what standardized 60 megawatt ORC blocks mean for utilities, data centers, and oilfield services.

Starship Flight 11 Turns the Corner on Orbital Refueling

Starship Flight 11 Turns the Corner on Orbital Refueling

Flight 11 staged cleanly, flew more than an hour, and ended with two guided splashdowns. The next prototype adds refueling hardware and tougher tiles, setting up a 2026 demo that could pull Artemis work forward.

Kraken’s $100M Small Exchange buy brings U.S. derivatives onshore

Kraken’s $100M Small Exchange buy brings U.S. derivatives onshore

Kraken’s $100 million purchase of the CFTC-licensed Small Exchange, paired with its NinjaTrader acquisition, sets up a regulated U.S. futures and options stack. Here is what launches next, who can use it, and the 6 to 12 month watchlist.

Sentinel Reset: How the 2025 Overhaul Rewrites the ICBM Plan

Sentinel Reset: How the 2025 Overhaul Rewrites the ICBM Plan

After a historic cost breach, the LGM‑35A Sentinel is being rebuilt in 2025. This analysis unpacks what the reset changes, how timelines shift, and which FY26–FY27 decisions will speed or stall the reboot.

428 km From Disaster: The Antarctic Asteroid Near Miss

428 km From Disaster: The Antarctic Asteroid Near Miss

On October 1, 2025, asteroid 2025 TF skimmed just 428 kilometers above Antarctica, the second closest flyby ever recorded. The scare exposes how small near‑Earth objects evade detection and previews the sensors, radar, and drills that will close the gap.

Hydrogen After the Cuts: Where Projects Still Pencil

Hydrogen After the Cuts: Where Projects Still Pencil

DOE’s October cancellations ended the hub-first era. Here is a practical map of where hydrogen projects still work under 45V, which offtakes are real, and how to structure power and finance to survive 2030’s hourly matching.

Devin at $10.2B: AI software engineers join headcount

Devin at $10.2B: AI software engineers join headcount

Cognition’s Devin crossed from demo to deployment in late 2025. With a $10.2B valuation, the Windsurf acquisition, and enterprise features like persistence, rollback, and an agent-native IDE, engineering leaders can budget, govern, and staff agents alongside people in 2026.

Tell me the topic and angle to craft your Relay story

Tell me the topic and angle to craft your Relay story

Give me a concrete topic and a sharp angle, and I will turn your idea into a 1200 to 2000 word, news‑anchored feature with crisp analysis, named entities, and practical takeaways tailored for Relay readers.

XRISM’s Resolve Turns X-ray Light Into a Cosmic Weather Map

XRISM’s Resolve Turns X-ray Light Into a Cosmic Weather Map

{"excerpt":"XRISM has opened its first vault of Performance Verification data, and Resolve’s microcalorimeter is translating X-ray spectra into maps of motion, temperature, and turbulence. Here is what the release unlocks and what to watch as the Kyoto meeting begins."}

Carrier CCAs Are Go: Navy’s 2025 Contracts Launch Wingmen

Carrier CCAs Are Go: Navy’s 2025 Contracts Launch Wingmen

The Navy’s fall 2025 awards, capped by General Atomics’ carrier‑capable CCA design win, mark the start of uncrewed wingmen at sea. Here’s how deck ops, autonomy, payloads, and production will shift from now to first detachments, with sea trials possible in 2027.

Senolytics 2.0: Liver‑tropic PROTACs curb MASLD and cancer

Senolytics 2.0: Liver‑tropic PROTACs curb MASLD and cancer

New 2025 preclinical data on 753b, a liver-targeted PROTAC that degrades BCL-xL/BCL-2, selectively clears senescent cells, slows MASLD, dampens fibrosis signals, and lowers liver cancer risk in mice. Here is what platelet-sparing, organ-focused senolytics mean for first-in-human trials.

Agent Bricks Makes the Lakehouse the Agent Runtime

Agent Bricks Makes the Lakehouse the Agent Runtime

Databricks and OpenAI are collapsing the agent stack into the lakehouse. Here is how lakehouse‑native governance, evals, and action gating turn demos into production systems while reducing risk and lock‑in.