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Breakthrough Prize Foundation Announces Winner of the 11th Annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge

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Matea Cañizarez, Age 18, of Quito, Ecuador, Receives Top Honors and $400,000 in Education Prizes for her Original Video Explaining Quark-Gluon Plasma

SAN FRANCISCO, April 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Breakthrough Prize Foundation today announced Ecuador-based student Matea Cañizarez as the winner of the 11th annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge, a global competition that empowers young people to creatively communicate complex ideas in the life sciences, physics, and mathematics.

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge will provide $400,000 in educational awards to Matea and her teacher, Roberto Procel. As the student winner, Matea will be granted a $250,000 college scholarship. In recognition of his work as a science teacher, Mr. Procel will receive a $50,000 award. The prize package also includes a cutting-edge science laboratory, designed by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and valued at $100,000, to be installed at Colegio Johannes Kepler, Matea’s current school, located in Quito, Ecuador. 

Matea was honored alongside the 2026 Breakthrough Prize laureates at The Breakthrough Prize Ceremony in Los Angeles on April 18, 2026.

“It’s exhilarating to meet bright, curious young people like Matea,” said Julia Milner, co-founder of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, “And to see them pursuing their passion for ideas and communicating it to others makes me truly hopeful for the future,” said Julia Milner, co-founder of the Breakthrough Prize.

Matea’s winning entry explains quark-gluon plasma, an extreme state of matter that existed just after the Big Bang, in which quarks and gluons move freely instead of being bound inside protons and neutrons. Her short video can be seen here. This was Matea’s first entry to the Breakthrough Junior Prize, and she is currently applying for college next fall.

“Coming from a rural town in Ecuador, my passion for science was not a given. I am humbled by the honor of winning the Breakthrough Junior Challenge and hope to work in the service of society and nature by making the most of this opportunity,” said Matea.

“Congratulations on your beautiful video explaining the quark-gluon plasma,” said David Gross, winner of the 2026 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, whose theories led directly to the discovery of the phenomenon in Matea’s video. Gross continued, “Very exciting, very well done, and I hope you stay in physics and help us understand even better the properties of the quark-gluon plasma in the laboratory, in the early Universe, and perhaps in the core of neutron stars.”

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is a global program designed to showcase and advance young people’s understanding of science and core scientific principles, spark enthusiasm for STEM fields, encourage pursuit of STEM careers, and engage the broader public in fundamental scientific concepts. Each year, students ages 13 to 18 are invited to produce original videos of up to two minutes that explain a concept or theory in life sciences, physics, or mathematics.

Entries are judged on how effectively participants communicate complex scientific ideas in clear, compelling, and creative ways.

“Seeing students take on complex topics and explain them with enthusiasm and creativity is inspiring,” said Sal Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy and Vision Steward of TED. “Their work is a reminder that when young people are given access and opportunity to explore their interests, they can achieve great things.”

This year, the Breakthrough Junior Challenge attracted more than 2,500 applicants from around the world. Submissions were narrowed down to 30 semifinalists, which represented the top submissions after two rounds of judging: first, a mandatory peer review, followed by an evaluation panel of judges. Sixteen finalists were selected in December 2025.

Celebrating its 11th year, the Breakthrough Junior Challenge has reached a global community of more than 100,000 students, parents, and educators, drawing upwards of 30,000 applications from students in over 200 countries, including Canada, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Singapore, and the United States. Since its launch, the program has distributed more than $2.5 million in college scholarships, invested $1 million in state-of-the-art science laboratories, and awarded $500,000 to exceptional science and mathematics teachers. Winning submissions have explored subjects ranging from  Mechanogenetic Cellular Engineering, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Circadian Rhythms, Neutrino Astronomy, and more. Challenge alumni have continued their academic journeys at top-tier universities such as MIT, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford.

This year’s Selection Committee was comprised of: Thea Booysen, MsC, social media director for neurologist Dr. Richard Isaacson and founder of MadeByHuman; Rachel Crane, space and science correspondent, CNN; Pascale Ehrenfreund, PhD, president, Committee on Space Research COSPAR; Dennis Gaitsgory, professor, Max Planck Institute for Mathematics, and Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics Laureate; John Grunsfelt, PhD astronaut, associate administrator for science, chief scientist at NASA Headquarters; Mae Jemison, physician, former astronaut, entrepreneur; Jeffery W. Kelly, professor of chemistry, Scripps Research Institute and Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences laureate; Scott Kelly, retired NASA astronaut; Salman Khan, founder and CEO, Khan Academy; Ijad Madisch, CEO, co-founder, ResearchGate; Samaya Nissanke, University of Amsterdam, Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics laureate; Nicole Stott, NASA astronaut, and co-founder of the Space for Art Foundation; Andrew Strominger, professor of physics, Harvard University, and Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics laureate; Terence Tao, UCLA professor and Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics laureate; Esther Wojcicki, founder, Palo Alto High Media Arts Center; Richard Youle, National Institutes of Health, and Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences laureate; and S. Pete Worden, chairman, Breakthrough Prize Foundation.

Partners

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge
The Breakthrough Junior Challenge, co-founded by Julia and Yuri Milner, is a global science video competition, aiming to develop and demonstrate young people’s knowledge of science and scientific principles and communications skills; generate excitement in these fields; support STEM career choices; and engage the imagination and interest of the public-at-large in key concepts of fundamental science.

The Breakthrough Prize
The Breakthrough Prize, renowned as the “Oscars of Science,” recognizes the world’s top scientists. Each prize is $3 million and presented in the fields of Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics (one per year) and Mathematics (one per year). In addition, up to three New Horizons in Physics Prizes, up to three New Horizons in Mathematics Prizes and up to three Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prizes are given out to early-career researchers each year. Laureates attend a gala award ceremony designed to celebrate their achievements and inspire the next generation of scientists.

The Breakthrough Prizes were founded by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki. The Prizes have been sponsored by the personal foundations established by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner and Anne Wojcicki. Selection Committees composed of previous Breakthrough Prize laureates in each field choose the winners. Information on the Breakthrough Prize is available at breakthroughprize.org.

About Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Since 2008, Khan Academy has provided an education safety net, a free platform designed to provide global access to high-quality learning for students and free resources for teachers. Khan Academy partners with more than 600 school districts in the United States and works with school systems in countries around the world, providing tools that personalize education. Khan Academy is at the forefront of using AI in education to support students while ensuring educators remain at the heart of the classroom. Worldwide, more than 200 million registered learners have used Khan Academy in 190 countries and more than 50 languages. For more information, please see research findings about Khan Academy and our press center.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL)
The Breakthrough Prize Lab for the winning student’s school is designed in partnership with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). Founded in 1890, CSHL, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, powers transformational discoveries in cancer, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, plant biology, and quantitative biology. Through world-renowned science and education divisions, CSHL nurtures a culture of curiosity, discovery, and innovation to make lives better. CSHL’s DNA Learning Center (DNALC) is the largest provider of hands-on instruction in genetics and biotechnology, reaching nearly 40,000 middle and high school students through field trips, day camps, summer camps, mentored research projects, and teacher training. For more than a century, CSHL has been a powerful and productive environment for developing, connecting, and sharing world-changing ideas. For more information, visit www.cshl.edu<http://www.cshl.edu/>>.

Contact
For more information, including competition rules, video submission guidelines and queries, go to: breakthroughjuniorchallenge.org.

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SOURCE Breakthrough Prize

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Tradr to Ring Opening Bell at Cboe to Celebrate SpaceX ETF Launches

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4 hours ago

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June 14, 2026

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Tradr ETFs will ring Cboe’s Opening Bell on June 15 to celebrate the launch of SPCM and SPCG, ETFs providing 200% leveraged long and short exposure to the newly public SpaceX stock.

Firm to commemorate the launch of SPCM and SPCG from the center of the world’s largest options trading floor

NEW YORK, June 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tradr ETFs, a provider of ETFs designed for sophisticated investors and professional traders, today announced that its team will ring the Opening Bell at Cboe Global Markets at 8:30 am on Monday, June 15, 2026. The ceremony, to be broadcast live on CNBC, will commemorate the expected start of trading for the Tradr 2X Long SpaceX Daily ETF (Cboe: SPCM) and the Tradr 2X Short SpaceX Daily ETF (Cboe: SPCG).

We’re excited to bring both bullish and bearish leveraged exposure to one of the market’s most closely watched stocks

SPCM and SPCG seek to provide traders with 200% leveraged bullish and bearish exposure to SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX), one of the most anticipated public offerings in market history.

“Few companies have captured the imagination of investors quite like SpaceX, and we’re proud to mark the launch of SPCM and SPCG by ringing the Opening Bell at Cboe,” said Russell Tencer, President of Tradr ETFs. “Cboe has been an outstanding partner to Tradr since our inception, and there is no better place to celebrate products built for traders by traders. We’re excited to bring both bullish and bearish leveraged exposure to one of the market’s most closely watched stocks and to do so from the center of the options trading world.”

Monday’s expected launch expands Tradr’s growing lineup of leveraged ETFs focused on the rapidly evolving space economy. The firm also offers the Tradr 2X Long ASTS Daily ETF (Cboe: ASTX) and the Tradr 2X Long FLY Daily ETF (Cboe: FLYT), providing 200% leveraged long exposure to two other closely watched companies helping shape the future of space-based communications and aerospace innovation.

Tradr’s lineup of 65 leveraged ETFs represents over $7 billion in assets under management. Some of its notable tickers on trending stocks include SNXX and SNDQ, which provide long and short exposure to SanDisk (SNDK). Tradr’s strategies can be accessed through most brokerage platforms and allow investors to avoid the hassle of using margin and the complexity of options trading. The firm continues its mission of providing sophisticated investors with innovative trading tools that enhance their ability to express market views with precision and efficiency.

For detailed information on Tradr ETFs and the significant risks involved with leveraged ETFs, please visit www.tradretfs.com.

About Tradr ETFs
Tradr ETFs are designed for sophisticated investors and professional traders who are looking to express high conviction investment views. The strategies include leveraged and inverse ETFs that seek short or long exposure to actively traded stocks and ETFs.

IMPORTANT RISK INFORMATION
Tradr ETFs are for sophisticated investors and professional traders with high conviction views and are very different from most other ETFs. The Funds are intended to be used as short-term trading vehicles and pursue leveraged investment objectives, which means they are riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Funds magnify the performance of their underlying security. The volatility of the underlying security may affect a Fund’s return as much as, or more than, the return of the underlying security.

Investors in the fund should: (a) understand the risks associated with the use of leverage; (b) understand the consequences of seeking inverse and leveraged investment results; (c) for short ETFs, understand the risk of shorting; (d) intend to actively monitor and manage their investment. Fund performance will likely be significantly different than the benchmark over periods longer than the specified reset period and the performance may trend in the opposite direction than its benchmark over periods other than that period.

Leverage increases the risk of a total loss of an investor’s investment, may increase the volatility of the Funds, and may magnify any differences between the performance of the Funds and their reference security. The Funds seek leveraged investment results for a specific period (daily, monthly or quarterly). The exact exposure of an investment in the Fund intra-period will depend upon the movement of the reference security from the end of the prior period until the time of investment by the investor.

The Fund will not attempt to position its portfolio to ensure it does not gain or lose more than a maximum percentage of its net asset value on a given trading day. As a consequence, investors in a Fund that seeks two times daily performance would lose all of their money if the Fund’s underlying security moves more than 50% in a direction adverse to the Fund on a given trading day.

ETFs involve risk including possible loss of the full principal value. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Principal risks and other important risks may be found in the prospectus. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

ETF shares are bought and sold at market price (not NAV) and are not individually redeemed from the ETF. There can be no guarantee that an active trading market for ETF shares will develop or be maintained, or that their listing will continue or remain unchanged. Buying or selling ETF shares on an exchange may require the payment of brokerage commissions and frequent trading may incur brokerage costs that detract significantly from investment returns.

Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Funds. This and other important information about the Fund is contained in the Prospectus, which can be obtained by visiting www.tradretfs.com. The Prospectus should be read carefully before investing.

Distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc, which is not affiliated with AXS Investments or its Tradr ETFs. AXI000965

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SOURCE Tradr ETFs

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Changan Group Unveils Its In-house Developed ADAS — SDA Pilot

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6 hours ago

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June 14, 2026

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CHONGQING, China, June 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At the 28th Chongqing International Auto Exhibition, Changan Group showcased its full brand lineup including CHANGAN NEVO, CHANGAN DEEPAL and AVATR at Hall N8, and officially launched its self-developed Advanced Driver-Assistance System, SDA Pilot.

At the press conference, Zhu Huarong, Chairman of Changan Group, stated: “Changan will work together with partners and users worldwide to make ADAS better, more practical, and more accessible, protecting every journey with smart technology.” It is announced that the CHANGAN NEVO Q06 will come standard with SDA Pilot across all trim levels and hit its domestic market in the second half of 2026.

SDA Pilot Takes the Spotlight: Three-tier Safety Defenses Upgrade the ADAS Experience

As Changan’s latest technological achievement in smart mobility, SDA Pilot breaks the boundaries of traditional physical safety and establishes three comprehensive safety defense systems covering physical well-being, mental comfort and emotional interaction.

The entry-level SDA Pilot Pro comes standard with LiDAR, capable of identifying obstacles in low-light conditions such as at night or in tunnels two seconds faster than the human eye. Supported by the globally leading SDA Central Ring Network Architecture, the system cuts response time by an additional 150 milliseconds. SDA Pilot Max, leverages over 20 million high-quality real-world driving data segments for training, delivering exceptional perception and predictive capabilities to confidently navigate complex, high-frequency commuting scenarios. The top-tier SDA Pilot Ultra is integrated with the VLM (Vision Language Model), which greatly enhances the vehicle’s environmental perception and enables interactive advanced driver-assistance functions, turning the vehicle into an intuitive travel companion. In the future, an active driver incapacitation protection function will also be introduced to safeguard driving safety at the first moment.

While continuously evolving its ADAS user experience, Changan remains committed to its safety bottom line, clearly reminding: “Driver assistance is not autonomous driving. Drivers are still required to take on the core responsibilities of real-time monitoring and taking over control at any time.”

Advancing the “1445” Global Strategy: 17 Years of Intelligent R&D Build Solid Safety Foundations

Changan Group lives by the tenet of “Intelligence defines Changan.” As a core component of the “1445” Global Strategy that underpins four transformation priorities (The four priorities refer to: intelligent mobility, electrification, a unified ecosystem, and globalization), intelligent mobility stands as the primary driving force for Changan’s upgrading. The company is committed to building a world-class auto group with global competitiveness and independent core technologies, aiming to rank among the world’s top 10 automobile brands by 2030. The launch of SDA Pilot marks a landmark achievement of this strategy in the advanced driving-assistance sector.

Behind this technological breakthrough lies a solid intelligent foundation built by Changan over 17 years. Since establishing its intelligent R&D team in 2009, Changan has forged ahead in uncharted technological territories and built the China’s only national key laboratory dedicated to intelligent vehicle safety technology — CHANGAN SDA LAB. The lab supports round-the-clock global collaborative testing with more than 400,000 virtual simulation scenarios.

Over the past five years, more than 2,000 Changan engineers have completed over 5 million kilometers of real-road tests across Chongqing’s notoriously complex road conditions, covering 185 typical driving scenarios. Rich field experience has been embedded into the system, which keeps evolving based on user feedback and forms the unshakable safety strength of SDA Pilot.

Empowered by intelligent technologies, Changan continues to accelerate its global footprint. To date, the group has established 22 overseas manufacturing bases with an annual capacity of 350,000 vehicles, and 1,124 overseas sales outlets, covering 118 countries and regions, with 41 global models launched. In 2025, Changan’s overseas sales reached 637,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 18.9%.

Since the start of 2026, Changan has made successive moves in its globalization strategy: launching the Vast Ocean Plan 2.0 during the AutoChina 2026 in Beijing, establishing four core principles: long-term development, localization, systematization, and responsible ESG practices; and more recently, partnering with the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) to become the Official Global Partner of the Portugal National Football Team, using sports as a bond to deepen global user connections and brand engagement.

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SOURCE Changan Group

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Kakunin Announces Cryptographic Compliance Shield for Google Gemini and OpenAI Agent Ecosystems

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13 hours ago

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June 14, 2026

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SaaS Compliance Leader Launches First-Class SDK Integrations for Google Antigravity, OpenAI Swarm, and OpenAI Assistants API to Meet Strict MiCA and EU AI Act Standards.

LONDON, June 13, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Kakunin, the leading compliance infrastructure platform for autonomous AI agents, today announced the release of first-class SDK integrations for Google Antigravity SDK, OpenAI Swarm, and the OpenAI Assistants API.

Autonomous agents are executing high-value, real-world tasks—but without strict boundaries, they represent a massive security risk,” said Palash Bagchi, Founder, at Kakunin.

As organizations move autonomous AI agents from sandboxes to production, securing the tools they run has become a critical operational hurdle. The new integrations allow developers to cryptographically secure and audit agent actions in real time, meeting the strict requirements of upcoming regulations like the EU AI Act and MiCA.

Preventing Agent Drift at the Tool Layer

Instead of relying on prompt engineering or system instructions—which are susceptible to jailbreaks—Kakunin secures agent tool execution at the cryptographic layer:

Pre-Flight Scope Verification: Validates that an agent possesses the required permission scope (e.g., trade.execute, file.write) before executing local code.Active-Agent Enforcement: Dynamically halts execution if the agent’s underlying X.509 certificate has been revoked or suspended.Tamper-Evident Auditing: Automatically logs session starts, prompts, responses, tool successes, and error anomalies.

Ecosystem Compatibility out of the Box

The new releases bring seamless, code-first integrations to the industry’s leading agent frameworks:

Google Antigravity SDK: Hook-based runtime protection that automatically secures Gemini-powered tool workflows.OpenAI Swarm: A lightweight class wrapper (KakuninSwarm) that dynamically gates multi-agent handoffs and task executions.OpenAI Assistants API: A polling-loop helper (handle_assistants_requires_action) that streamlines safety checks and tool output formatting in a single call.

Beyond these core OpenAI and Google environments, the new releases also extend Kakunin’s cryptographic shield to the broader agent development community. Out-of-the-box templates and shims are now available for LangChain (KakuninToolGuard), LlamaIndex (KakuninFunctionToolGuard), CrewAI (KakuninCrewAgent), and AutoGen (KakuninConversableAgent), alongside native middlewares for Next.js API routes and raw client libraries for Go, TypeScript, and Python.

“Autonomous agents are executing high-value, real-world tasks—but without strict boundaries, they represent a massive security risk,” said Palash Bagchi, Founder, at Kakunin. “By bringing cryptographic X.509 validation directly to Google’s and OpenAI’s agent loops, we are giving developers the peace of mind to deploy agents in highly regulated environments like fintech and healthcare.”

Availability

The new SDK integrations are available immediately:

Python Package: Available on PyPI via pip install kakunin.Playground Notebooks: Developers can test the integrations in 1-click via the official OpenAI Cookbook and Google Gemini Cookbook.Reference Samples: Available on the public Kakunin Samples Repository.

To learn more about securing your autonomous agent workflows, visit kakunin.ai/docs. or visit Conversational GTM for more enquiries.

Media Contact
Palash Bagchi, Immortal Reality PA LLC, 1 4125437290, ai@kakunin.ai, https://www.kakunin.ai/

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SOURCE Kakunin

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