Available for over a year

Microsoft unveils a new quantum chip. It’s a big moment for the company, as its quantum programme has faced criticism. Is the tech giant’s strategy finally paying off? And when will this chip deliver practical quantum computing? The BBC’s Technology Editor, Zoe Kleinman, interviews Microsoft’s executive vice president for quantum.

Also this week: what new tech can soccer fans expect at the World Cup? Shiona McCallum reports from FIFA headquarters in Switzerland. And a leading critic of AI hype returns to Tech Life.

Presenter: Chris Vallance
Producer: Tom Quinn

(Photo: A hand is seen holding the new Majorana 2 quantum chip from Microsoft. The chip is gold-coloured. It is so large that it is the same size as the hand. Credit: Microsoft)

Programme WebsiteShow less

The post Tech Life appeared first on MASSIVE News.

At an internal staff briefing last week, acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy declared the United States has a “manifest destiny to the stars”, linking this to the need to win the “space race”.

This rhetoric is not new – it directly echoes US President Donald Trump’s inaugural address from earlier this year.

The phrasing invokes US nationalism that’s historically been used to justify colonial expansion and empire-building.

Language matters. How we talk about space exploration shapes the futures we imagine and build. As two space governance specialists working together – one non-Indigenous, one Indigenous – we see an urgent need for a different way to view space.

An Indigenous-inspired lens can help us envision and build a future with stewardship and shared responsibility, not competition and conquest.

We’re still talking about the ‘space race’

That space is a “race” has become a common, and sometimes contested, refrain. The US and China are leading missions to the Moon’s south pole, each looking to land on prime sites where they could establish bases and access scarce resources such as water ice and light, essential for staying on the lunar surface for longer periods of time.

The first arrival could influence space governance and a future lunar economy for private companies. This has prompted talk of an “infrastructure arms race” or “trade war”.

This “race” isn’t only about nations. This past week saw headlines that Interlune, a US-based startup, is “racing to be the first to mine helium on the Moon”, for potential uses in everything from quantum computing to nuclear fusion. Helium-3 is a rare non-radioactive isotope on Earth but more common on the lunar surface, valued at US$19 million per kilogram.

Other commercial entrants are looking to asteroid mining, with hyped claims that the “first trillionaire” will be whoever returns with rare minerals. We also see talk that this is a “billionares’ space race”.

The expressions used to understand, engage with and think about space aren’t neutral. They still carry the ideas of coloniality: the power structures and attitudes that persist as a legacy of colonisation.

‘Colonisation’ is not an empty metaphor

When space is described in terms of “colonisation”, “conquest”, “manifest destiny” or the prize in a “race”, these words are not empty metaphors.

They echo imperialist ideals. Such mindsets push for taking more power and extending dominance into new “frontiers” of control, racism and erasure of other forms of knowledge. They also simultaneously exclude voices that don’t align with them, preserving the dominant narrative.

The idea of a “manifest destiny” is driven by a human-centric approach to the environment. The Moon or other celestial bodies are seen as resources to be conquered by first arrivals. Phrases such as “final frontier” and “wild west” have similarly colonial origins.

Historically, “manifest destiny” was used to legitimise US nationalism and the violent expansion that dispossessed Indigenous peoples from tribal lands and territories as the so-called American frontier expanded westward.

The same logic first infused US space policy during the Cold War, as the US and Soviet Union vied to take that first “one small step” on the Moon and assert leadership as the preeminent global superpower.

Such perspectives of dominance have not gone uncontested. During Cold War era negotiations for the United Nations’ international space law treaties that still stand today, Global South nations – many of which had endured painful experiences of colonial rule – advocated for a more equitable approach.

Foundational principles in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 seek to safeguard outer space as the province of all humankind and for the benefit of all nations, not only the powerful and privileged few.

Yet a gap between principles and practice remains. How we talk about space affects the futures we create off-Earth – and a better framing already exists in Indigenous perspectives.

An alternative, inclusive future

The Māori ethic of kaitiakitanga – which broadly encompasses the concept of stewardship – envisions a future grounded in reciprocity and shared responsibility. It extends beyond the human to embrace the more-than-human world.

Rather than treating space as an empty “frontier” to conquer and exploit, kaitiakitanga recognises that celestial bodies, Earth and humankind are not separate domains, but part of an interconnected system.

This perspective challenges the assumptions that only people hold moral standing. Instead, the night sky and celestial bodies have value in and of themselves.

Kaitiakitanga also maintains intergenerational responsibilities: ensuring that decisions made today honour past, present and future relationships. Such obligations also support nascent calls for an Indigenous right to space.

Likewise, collaborative research by Bawaka Country under the guidance of the Yolŋu songspiral Guwak “refuses the idea of space, portrayed by would-be space colonisers as a dead, empty stock of resources awaiting exploitation”.

Instead, it recognises space as an ancestral domain for Indigenous and some non-Indigenous peoples globally. It explains how “space colonisation” risks disrupting and harming enduring, millennia-old connections and ethical obligations of care to the sky and beyond.

These and other Indigenous perspectives offer lessons that benefit everyone.

Reclaiming the narrative

When we shift the conversation away from the human-centric logic of exploitation and empire-building, we also expand who has a relationship with and a responsibility to space.

We all do. In effect, we are all “space citizens”. That means space must not be left to dominant nations and tech titans alone.

To realise this future, we must reclaim the narrative around outer space from powerful actors who use exclusionary language grounded in coloniality. Instead, we should move towards a more inclusive, relational and sustainable ethic of stewardship.

Otherwise, we risk repeating history and launching injustices into the cosmos, one rocket at a time.

The post For too long, colonial language has dominated space exploration. There is a better way appeared first on MASSIVE News.

Locked Shields, organized annually by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE), is the world’s largest and most complex international cyber defense exercise. The 2025 event involved more than 4,000 participants from 41 nations. 

This exercise simulates the most sophisticated nation-state and eCrime cyberattacks that businesses face today. Over a three-week period, 17 multinational blue teams faced over 9,000 real-time simulated cyberattacks targeting simulated national infrastructure including power grids, 5G networks, satellite systems, and battle management platforms. Teams were tested on legal strategy, crisis communication, disinformation, and decision-making under pressure.

The Germany-Singapore team relied on the CrowdStrike Falcon platform to defend against these threats, outperforming other elite cyber teams and achieving the best result in Germany’s 15-year participation in Locked Shields. 

CrowdStrike’s Role in Team Germany-Singapore

The Germany-Singapore team was composed of experts from the German Bundeswehr, Singapore’s Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS), and additional security agencies from Germany and Singapore. Onsite support was provided by three CrowdStrike engineers, two from Germany, and one from Singapore, and a CrowdStrike Falcon® Counter Adversary Operations Elite analyst. CrowdStrike Falcon® Adversary OverWatch™ also provided remote assistance during the event.

For the past two years, the German team, led by the Bundeswehr, has used the Falcon platform as their primary protection technology during Locked Shields. This year, the Bundeswehr’s cyber defense experts demonstrated clear progress in how they, along with the broader Germany-Singapore team, used the platform. 

Locked Shields 2025 brought new innovations to the cyber battlefield. These included a new cloud segment, quantum computing topics in the Strategic Decision-Making track, and AI challenges across all main tracks. The exercise created an environment in which the pace and volume of situational changes forced blue teams to adapt, shift their priorities, and make impactful decisions. 

“This year’s fictional scenario reflects pressing global realities, including geopolitical tensions, violations of sovereignty, and large-scale cyberattacks,” the CCDCOE states on its website. “The 2025 storyline has expanded to include additional fictional nations and wider regions, underlining how cyber defence cooperation must transcend borders in an increasingly interconnected digital world.”   

The Germany-Singapore team scored highest with the help of the Falcon platform and CrowdStrike support. The CrowdStrike team helped them prepare for the exercise and served as consultants throughout to ensure the desired protections were in place when it counted. The Falcon Counter Adversary Operations team assisted in identifying and attributing modern attacks performed by the red team, informing a swift and informed incident response.

Participants and operational team members regularly highlighted the speed, exceptionally high detection rate, and aggressive response of the Falcon platform against simulated cyberattacks.

CrowdStrike’s Global Presence at Locked Shields 2025

CrowdStrikers from around the world provided support and expertise to 12 countries across six of the 17 multinational blue teams participating in the exercise, including countries represented among the top three highest-scoring teams.

As participants on various national teams, CrowdStrike experts worked with defense agencies and military cyber commands across multiple countries. For example, some of our experts worked directly with cyber defense commands from participating countries such as Romania, Portugal, and the Republic of Moldova, contributing their cybersecurity expertise to the exercise. 

While some teams like Germany-Singapore used the Falcon platform as their primary protection technology, CrowdStrike’s contribution to other teams focused on providing expert knowledge and hands-on operational support. This diverse involvement highlights the importance of international cooperation and knowledge sharing in strengthening collective defense capabilities.

These collaborative efforts across borders, and between public and private sectors, represent the kind of partnerships needed to address today’s most complex cybersecurity challenges, setting the foundation for stronger global cyber defense.

A Path to Stronger Global Cyber Defense

The Germany-Singapore team’s results demonstrate CrowdStrike’s ability to stop breaches in real time, defend critical infrastructure, and deliver unmatched protection at speed and scale. Further, this success underscores the strength of international cooperation and the strategic value of public-private partnerships in defending against modern cyber threats.

Exercises like Locked Shields are essential for sharpening the collective readiness of international security teams. This is an excellent example of how trained professionals and capable tools lead to outstanding results. Industry partners like CrowdStrike play a critical role in supporting operational resilience and innovation in global cyber defense.

Additional Resources

The post How the CrowdStrike Falcon Platform Drove the Germany-Singapore Team to Success at NATO Locked Shields 2025 appeared first on MASSIVE News.