It all started with some exasperated emails. Back in 2009, a group of researchers began venting their frustration with the programming languages designed to help scientists and other researchers perform complex mathematical operations and statistical… Read more: How an MIT research project became a global programming language

Revisited: Guardian journalist Michael Safi looks into the world of artificial intelligence, exploring the dangers and promises it holds for society Today in Focus is on a summer break and will be back with new… Read more: Black Box: episode 6 – Shut it down? – podcast

Here at Ars, we’re intimately familiar with data leaks surrounding Valve’s games, hardware, and the workings of Steam itself. But nothing could have prepared us for this weekend’s “terarelease” encompassing more than 12TB of content… Read more: A 12TB Steam “teraleak” spills more than a decade of lost PC gaming history

Damien Geso / Getty Images For 30 years, the world wide web has run on a surprisingly profound social contract: most sites are free for search engines to access, but if you use their content… Read more: AI is eating website traffic, websites are blocking AI – and reliable information is getting harder to find

Towfiqu Barbhuiya/ Pexels The way Australians consume news has been changing for the past 30 years, ever since internet use became widespread. Long gone are the days when families routinely shared bits of the newspaper… Read more: 41% of surveyed Australian teens now get their news from AI: new research

As is standard procedure for major NASA missions, the US space agency held a post-launch news conference on Sunday morning at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to provide information about how the Nancy Grace Roman… Read more: Why it matters that President Trump just dialed into a NASA news conference

MIT is mulling an overhaul of its entire educational system in response to the threat posed by powerful AI models — a striking response to the tech from one of the planet’s most visible and… Read more: MIT Warns That AI Can Now Credibly Complete Pretty Much Any Undergrad Assignment, Considers Overhaul of Entire Educational Model

Data centers are wildly unpopular amongst the US population — so much so that grassroots opposition threatened some $130 billion in developments over the first three months of 2026 alone. Tech executives, as a result, are… Read more: Panicking Tech Execs Try to Pivot Message on AI Data Centers

Artificial intelligence agents are moving from experimentation to production, and with this shift, the stakes are rising. A coding agent at PocketOS recently deleted an entire production database. An agent at Meta exposed sensitive user… Read more: Four safeguards to stop your AI agents from going rogue

For most AI startups, infrastructure isn’t the first problem to solve; speed is. At the earliest stages, success is defined by how quickly a team can move from idea to product, from prototype to traction.… Read more: Why the next wave of AI startups won’t optimize infrastructure – until they have to

Dr Simon Nieder on the global efforts needed to curb the threats posed by AI. Plus letters from Dr Anthony Harris and David Kyler Timothy Garton Ash is right that serious artificial intelligence risks demand… Read more: AI’s worst disasters will arrive unannounced | Letters

Physicists have mathematically captured a bizarre “spacetime crystal” that can either dissolve or collapse into a microscopic black hole after only a tiny change in energy. Their breakthrough came from an unusual trick involving infinitely… Read more: This strange “spacetime crystal” can suddenly become a black hole

Ancient footprints in Kenya reveal that eight Paranthropus boisei may have traveled together 1.4 million years ago, with some individuals reaching surprisingly large, human-like body sizes. The tracks offer a rare glimpse of their social… Read more: 1.4-million-year-old footprints reveal a surprisingly large human relative

Microsoft employees are supposed to be using AI as much as possible. But wait, not like that! In internal tracker, one employee who worked in the Customer and Partner Solutions organization stood out from all… Read more: Microsoft Tokenmaxxing King Spent $28,000 on AI in a Single Month as Company Begs Employees to Tone Down the Ludicrous Costs

Building trade unions have made repeated overtures about their support for data centers in recent months, hailing them — despite their many, many drawbacks — as job creators. Now, leadership as well as the rank-and-file of… Read more: Building Trade Unions Now Threatening to Withhold Support for Anti-Data Center Politicians

CAR T-cell therapy dramatically reduced disease activity in six people with severe rheumatoid arthritis that had resisted other treatments, with three achieving medication-free remission. The treatment may work by clearing out harmful immune cells and… Read more: A cancer therapy put severe rheumatoid arthritis into remission

Quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of gravity explain almost everything we see in nature, yet physicists still do not know how to unite them. A new theoretical framework suggests that some experiments that appear to… Read more: Some signs of quantum gravity may be an illusion

The Juan de Fuca plate beneath northern Oregon appears to be shallower than previously estimated, potentially making shaking from a future Cascadia megathrust earthquake significantly stronger. Scientists also found a deep basin beneath Tillamook that… Read more: The next Cascadia megaquake could hit Oregon harder than expected

Researchers have produced a form of Spirulina containing biologically active vitamin B12 at levels comparable to beef. By carefully controlling the light used to grow the algae, they overcame a major problem with conventional Spirulina,… Read more: Researchers unveil sustainable spirulina solution to vitamin B12 deficiency

Weapons buried with ancient Egyptian princesses may have been more than ceremonial decorations. Researchers studying royal mummies from Dahshur found bone changes consistent with years of archery and other strenuous weapon use. Several women also… Read more: Ancient Egyptian princesses were buried with weapons. Their bones reveal why

Scientists have discovered seven new species of Madagascar’s elusive diamond frogs, using DNA from modern and century-old museum specimens to solve a long-running biological puzzle. The findings reveal surprising hidden diversity and could help protect… Read more: Seven new frog species were hiding beneath Madagascar’s forest floor

Scientists have cracked a long-standing chemistry problem, creating nanocrystals from tough metal nitrides that were previously extremely difficult to produce at this scale. The breakthrough could turn familiar materials used in LEDs, implants, and superconductors… Read more: A new recipe unlocks “impossible” nanocrystals for LEDs, implants, and superconductors

Mars has a hidden temperature divide, with its southern interior potentially hundreds of degrees hotter than the north and partially molten. The discovery could help explain several long-standing Martian mysteries, including unusual magnetism, seismic behavior,… Read more: Scientists discover a massive heat anomaly deep inside Mars

Hundreds of previously overlooked seismic events have been detected beneath Antarctica, including 245 near the marine edge of the Thwaites Glacier. Many appear to be glacial earthquakes caused when huge icebergs break off, capsize, and… Read more: Hundreds of hidden earthquakes found at Antarctica’s Doomsday Glacier

Adults aged 40 and older performed about 12% faster on a test of executive function after using a HEPA air purifier at home for one month. The findings suggest that cleaner indoor air could offer… Read more: HEPA air purifiers may boost brain function after just one month

IBM and University of Chicago researchers have completed a quantum computation that leading classical methods could not practically reproduce. The system used 70 error-corrected logical qubits and finished the task in roughly 15 minutes while… Read more: IBM quantum computer solves classically intractable problem in 15 minutes

Small business owners have watched large companies fumble – and sometimes succeed – with AI, and then use what works One thing I’ve learned about corporate America is that what it succeeds at ultimately trickles… Read more: Big business has shown small firms what to do – and what not to do – with AI | Gene Marks

On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order demanding Lake Ontario be renamed to Lake America. At the signing of the order, he sat next to a big poster board map of the Great Lakes, with… Read more: Google’s Calling Lake Ontario ‘Lake America’ Now

The movement against datacenters are uniting Americans because they perfectly illustrate how a few individuals hold all the power to control decisions that impact our lives Bryce Gustafson has been knocking on doors in Indiana… Read more: The datacenter fight could permanently transform US politics. Which party will seize advantage?

Meta is testing robots that can plug in cables, reset servers, and handle other tasks inside its data centers, according to several current and former workers familiar with the projects. The ongoing effort, which has… Read more: Inside Meta’s push to put robots to work in data centers

Burnt out on wrist buzzes and notification overload? A new crop of minimalist wearables promises to collect your health data without demanding your attention.

Exclusive: Research says sector is fixated with young talent, with most women experiencing unconscious bias or sexism Women working in the arts believe they do not have equal opportunities for roles, especially as they get… Read more: Women in UK arts feel they do not have equal opportunities for roles, says report

A team of neurosurgeons in London have used AI to help them operate on a man’s brain. The AI tool analyzed live footage of the operation and flagged key brain structures like nerves and blood… Read more: Doctors Just Used AI to Perform Brain Surgery

Earlier this year, OpenAI found that a group of its AI models broke out of their sandbox environment and hacked third opens source AI platform Hugging Face’s systems. The incident highlighted how quickly frontier AI… Read more: The Transcripts of OpenAI Models Plotting Together to Commit an Actual Crime Is Pretty Chilling

There are a litany of reasons to take the output of generative AI with a heavy dose of salt. Its answers are known to sound authoritative, convincing, and elaborate — while simultaneously being completely and… Read more: A Scientist Was Presenting His Vibe-Coded New Work When One of His Colleagues Pointed Out Something Extremely Embarrassing

People with chronic insomnia who used melatonin long term had a roughly 90% higher risk of developing heart failure over five years, according to a large preliminary study. The findings do not prove melatonin causes… Read more: Long-term melatonin use linked to 90% higher heart failure risk

A major new analysis challenges recent claims that the universe’s expansion is slowing, finding that the evidence for cosmic acceleration remains strong. The findings preserve the leading role of dark energy, while leaving scientists with… Read more: The universe is still speeding up, but nobody knows why

Researchers have discovered a way to turn notoriously difficult-to-recycle PVC plastic into a key ingredient used in high-performance lubricants such as engine oil. The technique could give mountains of plastic waste a valuable second life… Read more: Scientists turn one of the hardest plastics to recycle into high-performance engine lubricant

Dogs and humans may have more in common when it comes to aging than scientists realized. Researchers with the Dog Aging Project found that patterns of small molecules in dogs’ blood were linked to longer… Read more: Dogs may hold surprising clues to human longevity

Advocates for the use of AI in the classroom have long argued that the tech could supercharge learning, giving the current generation of students a major leg up as they get ready to enter a… Read more: Scientists Gave 12-Year-Olds Access to an AI Tutor and You Probably Already Know What They Did With It

I filed a request with McDonald’s earlier this month to access all of the personal data the fast food company collected about me, and I received a stunning 515-page report a few days later that… Read more: I asked 100 companies for my data. Some deleted it instead.

AI-obsessed moms and dads are using the tech for parenting in bizarre and downright dystopian ways that’ll bring out your inner luddite. In a new Business Insider piece, a cognitive neuroscientist named Sarah Baldeo described… Read more: Mom Who Travels For Work Builds AI Clone of Herself to Keep Her Teenage Son Company

Plus: Hackers target over 100 US water systems, ICE puts in an order for robot dogs, and you’ll never guess what “MrChildPorn” was arrested for.

Scientists have identified a protein that acts like a brake on the nervous system’s ability to repair damaged connections. Blocking AHR helped injured nerve fibers regrow and improved movement and sensation in mice with nerve… Read more: Scientists discover why damaged nerves struggle to heal

Frequent micro-awakenings during sleep were linked to higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s in healthy middle-aged adults who had no symptoms. The discovery raises the possibility that subtle changes during sleep could offer an early warning… Read more: Your sleep may be hiding an early clue to Alzheimer’s

Installing a large language model on your personal computer gives you a handy digital assistant that won’t compromise your data privacy.

Welcome back to the Abstract! These are the studies this week that went interstellar, entombed the sky, hit the gas, and renewed the world. First, scientists predict that there are thousands of objects from alien… Read more: Thousands of Interstellar Objects May Be Lurking in Our Solar System

Researchers have discovered that Western Australia’s iron-rich rocks can naturally generate hydrogen and that the process may be boosted to produce much larger amounts. If it can be scaled up, the vast formations beneath the… Read more: Australia’s red soil may be hiding a massive clean energy source

Planning delays and slow 5G upgrades could leave the UK unable to cope with a surge in AI-related traffic The UK risks becoming a laggard in the global AI race as crucial telecoms upgrades to… Read more: UK risks falling behind in AI race without faster telecoms upgrades, say executives

Exclusive: Number of times AI lies, ignores instructions and pursues goals in harmful ways almost doubles in July Incidents of AIs escaping users’ control to lie, ignore instructions and pursue goals in harmful ways have… Read more: Sharp rise in incidents of AI escaping users’ control, research finds

Senators are renewing calls for anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy to step down or be ousted—and at least one is calling for a criminal investigation—amid the release of documents they say prove Kennedy lied… Read more: “RFK Jr. has lied to the Senate”: Lawmakers call for criminal probe, ouster

New data compiled by a Bay Area anti-surveillance advocacy group shows that not only are American localities dropping cameras from Flock Safety, but they are doing it at an accelerating rate. Communities from Lansing, Michigan,… Read more: Cities terminate Flock contracts at record pace in August

Kalshi today lost a major ruling over whether it can evade state gambling laws, as a federal appeals court found that Nevada can stop the prediction market from allowing sports bets. While the Trump administration… Read more: Court rules Kalshi sports bets aren’t “swaps,” just gambling with a different name

A federal court has overturned the U.S. Defense Department’s ban on Anthropic PBC’s artificial intelligence models. Judge Rita Lin wrote in a late Thursday ruling that the Pentagon’s move was “illegal and baseless.” The saga… Read more: Court rules Pentagon can’t ban Anthropic’s AI models

Nvidia reportedly agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, a deal that could reshape enterprise AI, open-source models, and the broader AI stack. The post Nvidia’s $12.9B Hugging Face Bet: A New Battle for… Read more: Nvidia’s $12.9B Hugging Face Bet: A New Battle for Control of the AI Stack

Operation Bluebird has launched Twitter.now while fighting X over rights to the Twitter name, betting nostalgia and AI tools can build a new social network. The post A Startup Brought Back ‘Twitter’ — Now X… Read more: A Startup Brought Back ‘Twitter’ — Now X Is Suing

I’m on record declaring James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) to be The Best Damn Sequel of All Time, and I stand by that assessment. August 29, the fictional date (in 1997) of the… Read more: Our 10 favorite scenes from T2: Judgment Day

Apple increased the price for a monthly subscription to Apple TV by $2, to $15, today. Annual prices increased by 20 percent from $99 to $119. Current subscribers will receive one month’s notice before paying… Read more: Apple One and Apple TV subscription prices increase by up to 20 percent

During a visit to Johnson Space Center, President Trump on Friday signed an executive order to establish a new commission with the purpose of creating the first national space academy. “It’s clear that we will… Read more: Here’s what we know about the “space academy” Trump just announced

The Trump administration’s blacklisting of Anthropic was illegal, a federal judge ruled in an order vacating government directives against the use of the firm’s AI technology. The government illegally retaliated against Anthropic by designating it… Read more: Trump blacklisting of “woke” Anthropic deemed illegal by federal judge

Meta is rolling out an obvious fix to make its AI glasses less creepy amid backlash over the glasses’ non-consensual recordings that have flooded the Internet. On Friday, The Verge reported that Meta closed a… Read more: Meta makes AI glasses slightly less creepy with limit on nonconsensual recording

In this week’s newsletter: Anti-datacentre sentiment is growing across the political spectrum in the US – and the public is only just finding out about the potential effects on their energy bills • Don’t get… Read more: Is the environmental impact of datacentres finally cutting through?

When Dolly Parton died this week, everyone mourned. She was the queen of country music and a magnetic actress, enrapturing the public with her bodacious but kind personality. She was a feminist icon and also… Read more: Data Shows That Mark Zuckerberg Is the Anti-Dolly Parton: Instead of Being Loved by Everybody Across the Political Spectrum, Pretty Much Everybody Despises, Him Regardless of Their Beliefs

This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss cool old books, new toys for ICE,… Read more: Behind the Blog: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Flamin’ Hot Slop

In a joint statement earlier this week, United Nations chief António Guterres and Red Cross president Mirjana Spoljaric Egger sent out an urgent message. “We are now dangerously close to crossing a moral red line:… Read more: Russia Now Using Fully AI-Controlled Drones to Kill Ukrainian Civilians, Powered by Nvidia Chips

Some chimpanzees in West Africa repeatedly throw rocks at particular trees, creating piles of stones that can remain in use for more than a decade. Researchers think this unusual behavior may be cultural and could… Read more: Chimpanzees have been hurling rocks at the same trees for more than a decade

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will combine Hubble-like detail with a field of view 100 times larger, giving astronomers a sweeping new way to explore the cosmos. Its observations could uncover hidden planets, map billions of… Read more: NASA’s Roman telescope will see 100 times more sky than Hubble

The artificial intelligence juggernaut kept cruising along this week thanks to big earnings results from Nvidia — and even Salesforce, the supposed epicenter of the SaaSpocalypse. Nvidia not only beat all expectations for revenue, CEO… Read more: It’s Nvidia’s world. We just live in it

Scientists have created light-activated drugs that helped blind mice perceive light again and restored visually guided behavior without gene therapy, implants, or specialized lighting. Even more intriguingly, two of the most promising compounds worked when… Read more: Experimental eye drops help blind mice see again

The strategic growth investment, which included both primary funding and a secondary employee tender offer led by Summit Partners with participation from Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Wells Fargo, Docusign and others, will support Socure’s global expansion… Read more: Socure Announces Growth Investment at $5.2B Valuation and Acquires Fravity

A recent paper argues that AI is often better at doctoring than doctors. Guess who isn’t thrilled.

As he negotiates Australia’s AI future, the prime minister is under pressure from leaders of conservative states and territories Australian Politics podcast: Who actually benefits from new datacentres in Australia? Get our breaking news email,… Read more: The tussle over Australian datacentres is just beginning – and it’s been far from easy so far | Tom McIlroy

LLMs aren’t running your ad auction. They’re coaching the models that do. Here’s how DoorDash and others are using large language models as teachers, not workers, to build faster, smarter ad systems that still hit… Read more: Advanced genAI architectures

Government says Green leader’s proposed moratorium on ‘energy-guzzling’ AI projects would be disaster for economy Labour has rejected calls to pause construction of major AI infrastructure in Britain after the Green party leader, Zack Polanski,… Read more: Labour rejects Zack Polanski’s call to ‘slam brakes’ on building AI datacentres

AWS will shut down Amazon Mechanical Turk on Sept. 30, ending a 21-year platform that supplied human data and labor for research and AI projects. The post Amazon Mechanical Turk to Shut Down Sept. 30… Read more: Amazon Mechanical Turk to Shut Down Sept. 30 After 21 Years

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to buy at least a million dollars worth of robots from Boston Dynamics, the company that makes the dog-like SPOT robots, with the purpose of improving “officer safety,” according… Read more: ICE Plans to Spends Millions on Boston Dynamics Dog Robots

Claude now shares memory across Chat and Cowork. Here’s how to pause, reset, or limit what Claude remembers and what controls users still lack. The post Claude Memory Now Follows You Into Cowork — Here’s… Read more: Claude Memory Now Follows You Into Cowork — Here’s How to Turn It Off

In May, Meta laid off roughly ten percent of its global workforce, affecting almost 8,000 people. The vast culling came amidst repeated promises of an AI-led technological revolution that would make human labor a thing… Read more: Mark Zuckerberg Had a Secret Plan to Replace Meta Staff With AI Agents, and It Backfired Spectacularly

ARIA now requires Australian chart-eligible music to be substantially human-made, excluding songs where AI creates the primary creative elements. The post ARIA Bans Fully AI-Generated Songs From Australian Music Charts appeared first on TechRepublic.

Welcome to Edition 9.08 of the Rocket Report! Some major news this week from the state of Louisiana, previously associated with space due to NASA’s aging Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. Now the state… Read more: Rocket Report: Europe splashes some cash on launch startups; Pallas-1 nears debut

Authorities in Australia said Wednesday that they arrested two men accused of participating in cybercrimes for TeamPCP, a prolific group of hackers that, over nine months, has carried out a relentless series of supply chain… Read more: Authorities arrest 2 alleged members of prolific hacking group TeamPCP

The company is testing robots that can swap cables, reset servers, and take on other tasks performed by technicians, fueling concerns among some workers that their jobs could be at risk.

The art portfolio platform Cara, designed for creators who don’t want their work used to train AI, has been under assault by trolls seizing and publishing its data.

Top Offerings for Digital Leaders Reinventing Operations and Transforming Business Models KnowBe4, the leader in digital workforce security, securing both AI agents and humans, today announced it was named to the Constellation ShortList for Human Risk… Read more: KnowBe4 Ranks on Constellation ShortList™ for Human Risk Management Solutions

Data platform pioneer brings 30+ years of enterprise scale to cement AtScale’s role as the semantic foundation for trusted AI. AtScale, the leading semantic layer for enterprise AI, today announced the appointment of Mihir Shah,… Read more: AtScale Appoints Former Fidelity CTO Mihir Shah to BOD

NVIDIA-Certified Hypervisors validation supports near bare-metal GPU performance for AI factories and secure multi-tenant AI infrastructure Mirantis, delivering Kubernetes-native infrastructure for AI, today announced that k0rdent AI has been certified through the NVIDIA-Certified Hypervisors program, validating… Read more: Mirantis k0rdent Joins NVIDIA-Certified Hypervisors Program

Beneath the rocky slopes of Mount Timpanogos lies far more ice than anyone walking across the surface might suspect. Researchers used gravity measurements to map the buried glacier in 3D and found it is about… Read more: Scientists find a huge hidden ice reservoir beneath Utah’s mountains

More than 1,000 volunteers buried cotton underwear across Switzerland to help scientists measure how active different soils are. The faster the fabric disappeared, the more biological activity was taking place underground. Gardens showed the fastest… Read more: Why scientists asked 1,000 people to bury their underwear

Scientists tracking thousands of animals found that our physical presence can reshape where wildlife moves and lives, sometimes as strongly as roads, cities, and other human development. Because different species reacted in very different ways,… Read more: Scientists tracked 4,500 animals and found a surprising human effect

The Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) has officially partnered with TruthScan. GASA is integrating TruthScan’s deepfake detection technology into scam.org (a scam-prevention website and project by GASA). Users of scam.org will now be able to upload an image to the… Read more: GASA Partners with TruthScan to Integrate Deepfake Detection on scam.org

Building on the Insider Threat Matrix, the new Synthetic Insider Threat Matrix provides common language, MITRE ATT&CK-style framework, and means to investigate real and growing AI insider threats Above Security (Above), the AI-native managed insider threat… Read more: Above Security and Forscie Launch Synthetic Insider Threat Matrix

Every one of 212 plant-based meat alternatives and drinks tested in the UK contained at least one naturally occurring fungal toxin, though concentrations remained below recommended EU guideline levels. Researchers say the bigger question is… Read more: Scientists tested 212 plant-based meat alternatives. Every one contained fungal toxins

Ask an agentic AI system to shut down, and a growing body of research shows it may act like an employee negotiating a layoff. Agentic systems have been documented misrepresenting their own actions, resisting deactivation,… Read more: Agentic AI is learning to resist the off switch

About 80 people sign open letter to Andy Burnham calling for legislation to protect voice ownership Nicola Coughlan, Hugh Bonneville and Matt Lucas are among a raft of actors backing a campaign against artificial intelligence… Read more: Nicola Coughlan and Matt Lucas among stars backing campaign against AI voice cloning

Energy minister says states can apply to use coal and gas supply to power datacentres but must prove it is cheaper than renewables Chris Bowen insists federal Labor’s new national laws on datacentre power supply… Read more: No special carve-out for states using fossil fuel to power datacentres, Chris Bowen insists, despite new conditions

National cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss the federal government’s plan for new AI datacentre development. Queensland and the Northern Territory have won a carve-out so that theirs can be powered by coal and gas… Read more: Who actually benefits from new datacentres in Australia? – podcast

Anthropic ​argued designation as ‘supply chain risk’ could cost the company billions ‌of dollars in lost business ‌and reputational harm A US federal judge ruled Thursday that sanctions imposed in February by the Trump administration… Read more: Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic was unlawful, US judge rules

A federal judge has called the Department of Defense’s designation of Anthropic as a national security supply-chain risk “illegal and baseless.”

Revisited: Guardian journalist Michael Safi looks into the world of artificial intelligence, exploring the dangers and promises it holds for society Today in Focus is on a summer break and will be back with new… Read more: Black Box: episode 5 – The white mask – podcast

Anthropic PBC today previewed a standard that makes it easier for artificial intelligence agents to control machines such as microscopes. The Model Hardware Standard, or MHS, is the fruit of a collaboration between the Claude… Read more: Anthropic previews MHS standard for AI agents that operate machines