Vision Chip Breakthrough, AWS Outage, & How to Self-forgive

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Adam Rogers
October 21, 2025

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A wireless chip called the PRIMA device restored partial sight in patients with advanced age-related macular degeneration, which affects about 1 million Americans. In a European trial of 38 people who had lost the ability to read or recognize faces, 80% of the 32 reassessed after one year regained meaningful vision
The system uses camera glasses that capture images and transmit them as infrared light to an eye implant. The chip converts the light into electrical impulses that stimulate remaining eye cells, allowing the brain to interpret them as vision. Though images appear in black and white, patients could read and recognize shapes again.
The surgery caused 26 serious complications in 19 patients, though most resolved within two months. It is the first therapy to improve vision in late-stage macular degeneration, where doctors could previously only offer magnifiers. Next-generation chips in development could add color, higher resolution, and applications for other retinal diseases

An Amazon Web Services outage took down more than 1,000 websites worldwide on Monday. The cloud hosting service went offline around 3:11 a.m. ET due to database problems, with issues persisting through the morning. DownDetector received 6.5 million outage reports.
Financial apps Robinhood, Venmo, and Coinbase went down, preventing users from accessing money. Major media organizations, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, were affected. The UK government's tax authority website became inaccessible. Even Amazon's own services and AWS support system crashed.
AWS, along with Google and Microsoft, provides most of the world's cloud computing infrastructure. Similar outages occurred in 2023 and 2021, when services were down for over five hours. Amazon said the problem was resolved, but warned delays may continue.

Centrist senator Rodrigo Paz won Bolivia's presidential election Sunday with 54% of the votes, ending 20 years of socialist rule. He defeated former right-wing President Jorge Quiroga, who took 45%. Voters turned against the ruling party amid an economic crisis that includes 23% inflation, fuel shortages, and a dollar shortage locking citizens out of savings.
Paz plans to restore confidence in Bolivia's currency after years of economic mismanagement left citizens hiding money at home rather than trusting banks. He promises to fight corruption and avoid drastic budget cuts, hoping to stabilize the economy without triggering protests that have toppled past Bolivian leaders.
Paz's running mate, ex-police captain Edman Lara, gained fame on TikTok by exposing corruption after being fired from the force. Many voters said they backed the ticket for Lara, not Paz.

Unpaid air traffic controllers called out sick again on Monday during the 19-day government shutdown, causing flight delays at airports in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Newark, and Philadelphia. (More)

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that Trump can deploy National Guard troops to Portland, overturning a lower court’s block in a 2-1 decision led by two Trump-appointed judges. (More)

Former Illinois deputy Sean Grayson went on trial Monday for shooting Sonya Massey three times after she called police about a prowler last July. (More)

Colombia recalled its ambassador after Trump cut $440 million in aid and accused President Petro of enabling drug trafficking following US strikes that Colombia says killed a fisherman. (More)

A cargo plane skidded off a Hong Kong runway Monday, crashed into a security patrol car, and both plunged into the sea, killing two guards while four crew members survived. (More)

Brazil approved oil drilling near the Amazon River mouth, undermining President Lula's climate credentials just weeks before the country hosts major UN climate talks in November. (More)

US stock markets closed higher on Monday (S&P +1.44%, Nasdaq +1.37%, Dow +1.15%). Stocks rose on Monday as Apple shares climbed and investors hoped the government shutdown might end soon. (More)

Steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs said it may mine rare earths at two sites after China restricted exports of the critical minerals, sending the company's stock up 17% Monday. (More)

Trump and Australian PM Albanese signed an $8.5 billion rare earths deal Monday to counter China, which just restricted exports of the critical tech minerals. (More)

George Springer hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning to lift Toronto over Seattle 4-3 in Game 7, sending the Blue Jays to their first World Series since 1993. (More)

The US will bid to host the 2031 Women's World Cup with Mexico, Jamaica, and Costa Rica, the first tournament expanding from 32 teams to 48 teams. (More)

Netflix ordered a Kennedy family series with Michael Fassbender playing patriarch Joe Kennedy in the 1930s. (More)

Peanut allergies in kids fell 43% after parents started following 2017 advice to feed babies peanut products early, around four to six months old. (More)

SpaceX hit 10,000 Starlink satellites launched Sunday, but only 8,608 still work, as it races toward plans for 42,000 total satellites to provide worldwide internet access. (More)

Wikipedia's human traffic dropped 8% this year as AI search summaries and social video platforms change how people find information. (More)

Picasso painting goes missing in transit.

The psychology behind self-forgiveness (and how to do it).

Ranking US states that spend the most on going out.

…and the ten most-expensive zip codes in America.

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