Technologies

Doctors Transplant Genetically Modified Pig’s Heart Into Human in Medical First

The milestone operation shines a hopeful light for the long ledger of patients awaiting organ transplants.

Last month, an ambitious crew of doctors transplanted a genetically modified pig’s heart into a human patient for the first time, marking a historic moment for medicine. About five weeks post-surgery, the 57-year-old organ recipient, David Bennett, was still doing well.

«His heart function looks great, his blood pressure looks very good, and in fact, he’s on medicine to reduce his blood pressure. That’s how good it is right now,» Bartley P. Griffith, the University of Maryland School of Medicine physician who surgically transplanted the heart, said in an update on Feb 11.

On Feb. 14, medical staff caring for Bennett even released an inspiring clip of him watching this year’s Super Bowl and singing «America the Beautiful» as Jhené Aiko performed her rendition at the game. While the team continues to monitor Bennett closely, particularly due to reported preoperative kidney setbacks that persisted after the procedure, Griffith offered encouraging words: «Beyond that, I’d say all thumbs are up.»

This medical milestone undoubtedly lays the groundwork for a new generation of animal-to-human organ transplants, known as xenotransplantation, and directly addresses the organ shortage crisis. «There are simply not enough donor human hearts available to meet the long list of potential recipients,» Griffith, who’s also a professor in transplant surgery at the university, said in a statement.

«We are also optimistic that this first-in-the-world surgery will provide an important new option for patients in the future,» Griffith said. According to organdonor.gov, well over 100,000 Americans are awaiting an organ transplant, and more than 17 patients die each day while still on the waitlist.

Leading up to his surgery, Bennett was one of those anxious patients on hold. He was hospitalized and bedridden due to terminal heart disease.

«It was either die, or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,» Bennett said a day before the surgery was conducted, according to a statement provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Several leading transplant centers had previously deemed Bennett ineligible for a conventional heart transplant, including UMSOM, where the groundbreaking surgery was performed.

«I look forward to getting out of bed after I recover,» Bennett said.

To conduct the life-saving operation as a last resort, doctors genetically modified a pig’s heart to increase the chances of Bennett’s body accepting it as its own circulatory control center. Without such modifications, nonhuman-to-human organ transplants carry risks like triggering severe, and sometimes fatal, immune responses.

Further guarding against the likelihood of a bodily rejection, physicians behind the surgery’s blueprint also administered certain drugs that suppress the immune system, which the UMSOM report says helped Bennett’s body accommodate the foreign organ.

«This is the culmination of years of highly complicated research to hone this technique in animals, with survival times that have reached beyond nine months,» Muhammad M. Mohiuddin, a professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicinewho established the cardiac xenotransplantation program with Griffith, said in a statement. «The FDA used our data and data on the experimental pig to authorize the transplant in an end-stage heart disease patient who had no other treatment options.»

«We’ve been asked how we would define success,» Griffith said in the team’s most recent update, underlining his cautious hope. «I think we’ve surpassed, in many measures, what we expected.»

Technologies

Google’s New AI Features Are Trying to Make Data Entry a Thing of the Past

More Gemini AI features will come to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.

The latest batch of Google updates to its workspace tools highlights AI’s promise to automate mundanity in the workplace. Google Docs, Slides, Sheets and Drive all have new AI-powered features, the company announced Tuesday. The one thing all these updates have in common? Gemini is using your files, emails and chats to give you relevant information, not random answers gleaned from the web.

These updates come as AI is playing a bigger role in our work lives, for better or worse. Agentic tools like Claude Cowork and coding assistants like Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex are more capable than chatbots and able to handle tasks announced independently. AI tools are also becoming more customized, with Google’s personalized intelligence rolling out across its platforms to help refine AI outputs to things that are relevant and useful for you. Google continues that trend with this new batch of Workspace updates.

New Gemini AI features in Google Workspace apps will cite their sources after each query. For example, if you ask Gemini in Google Docs to fill out an itinerary template, it will pull the information from your email, chats and files. The «sources» tab in the Gemini side panel will show you where it found the information it used, like your flight confirmation email and chats discussing dinner plans. Seeing where Gemini pulled its answers from is also how you’ll double-check Gemini’s work.

The most impressive new features are in Sheets, where AI can fill in the holes in your spreadsheets. You can describe what you want the AI to do with a simple prompt and avoid writing an exact formula. You can click on an empty cell, select the pop-up that says «Drag to fill with Gemini,» then highlight the cells you want Gemini to fill in. That deploys an AI agent to search the web to fill each cell with the necessary information.

For example, if you have a spreadsheet of the contact info for local companies, you can have Gemini search the web to fill in a the location, CEO and other publicly available information of each company. The tool aims to dramatically reduce the time needed for manual data entry. Gemini can also summarize, categorize and create charts with prompts alone.

You can also chat with Gemini in Sheets and have it scour your raw data to make custom reports and charts. No need for pivot tables if they confound you as much as they baffle me. One of the biggest uses of AI at work is helping create presentations.

In Google Slides, you can now tell Gemini in natural language what you want to appear on a slide, and it will create it, matching the style of your existing slides. You can also ask Gemini to edit your slides if you don’t want to waste time painstakingly moving design elements around the slide. The AI should fill the slides with relevant information based on your instructions and the work files it has access to, so you shouldn’t need to replace a bunch of filler text.

If you use Docs, Sheets and Slides through the Workspace account of your company, then you won’t be able to turn off AI features individually. The managing company is in control of AI access for users. Personal users can tweak their settings to limit Gemini. The new features are rolling out in beta now, in English only, to Google AI Ultra and Pro subscribers in the US, as well as some Google Workspace customers who are part of the Gemini Alpha testing program.

For more, check out the new cowork feature in Copilot and how to use Perplexity AI for deep research.

Technologies

Nintendo Switches Lanes, Sues US Over Tariffs

Mario wants his money back.

Tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump were struck down by the Supreme Court last month. Companies that were subjected to those fees, such as FedEx and Dollar General, have since sued the federal government, and Nintendo wants a piece of the action.

Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the federal government in the US Court of International Trade on Friday, as first spotted by Aftermath. The complaint seeks refunds of tariffs Nintendo paid, plus interest, and asks the court to declare the tariffs unlawful and stop the government from collecting them going forward.

«Since February 1, 2025, President Trump has executed the unlawful Executive Orders, imposing tariffs on imports from a vast swath of countries,» Nintendo said in the complaint.

When reached for comment, Nintendo of America confirmed the lawsuit.

«We can confirm that we filed a request. We have nothing else to share on this topic,» Nintendo of America said in an emailed statement on Friday, March 6.

It’s unclear how much Nintendo paid in tariffs, and it did not state an amount in the lawsuit. While the Switch 2 was priced at $450 when it launched last year, and has stayed at that amount, Nintendo did increase the price of the original Switch and accessories for both consoles. Microsoft and Sony also increased the prices of their hardware and accessories last year due to tariffs.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Feb. 20, the Supreme Court ruled by a vote of 6 to 3 that the sweeping tariffs Trump instituted last year exceeded his executive powers. Following the ruling, on the same day, Trump announced a new set of tariffs of 10% on imported goods that would last for 150 days, starting Feb. 24.

The decision on what to do with the collected tariffs — a reported $166 billion — has been left to the US Court of International Trade. Judge Richard Eaton told the US Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday, March 4, to refund the importers that were forced to pay tariffs, which is more than 330,000. On Friday, the CBP said it couldn’t easily issue tariff refunds because its system requires duties to be recalculated and refunds processed entry by entry. This process would involve tens of millions of transactions. The agency said it’s updating its systems and could start providing refunds by late April.