October 2026

Abuse material monitor says number of AI images assessed this year is already 40% higher than last year’s total AI-generated child sexual abuse material is proliferating online, with the amount of illegal material investigated this year already exceeding the total for 2025. Analysts at the Internet Watch Foundation have found more photorealistic child sexual abuse […]

Scientists have discovered that E-cadherin, a protein best known as the “glue” holding cells and tissues together, has a surprising second job: helping epithelial cells swallow nearby dead cells. Using live zebrafish and mouse embryos, researchers found that cells can dramatically reshape their lower surfaces to engulf cellular debris while keeping their upper surfaces stable,

The tech industry has largely failed to win over the public when it comes to AI. Data centers have become a hot-button topic, with the vast majority of Americans — in a still-growing bipartisan cohort — now openly opposing them. Meanwhile, panicking executives are desperately trying to pivot the messaging to shore up some support,

Cybercriminals who appear to be Chinese hackers pretended to be Anthropic researchers and former government officials in a scheme to obtain information about American AI development, according to a report from the Silicon Valley cybersecurity firm Proofpoint. Per the report, the allegedly China-aligned hacking group, dubbed “TA419,” impersonated AI industry professionals and even an ex-White

The next time you find yourself paying way more than what’s warranted for McDonald’s decidedly mid-tier burgers, you may have more to blame than just faceless executives. According an investigation by Reuters, the fast food chain is using AI models to determine its menu prices across the US, with the system creating an estimate of

Chimps fish for algae in a rare example of primate tool use. Credit: National Geographic A wild African black panther prowls for prey. An orphaned baby pangolin must learn how to climb on its own. And a green turtle struggles to make it back to the water after laying her eggs on a remote island,

There’s no AI company in the world more obsessed with the idea that their models may be conscious than Anthropic. According to new reporting from the New York Times, the company has for months been wining and dining religious scholars across the world in secret, NDA-secured meetings to convince them that AI models think and

Recently unredacted legal documents and depositions in the New York Times‘ lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI revealed something extraordinary: executives knew full well of the destructive powers of AI when they rushed to launch products featuring the tech in the wake of the explosive success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Internal Microsoft documents quoted by the newspaper’s

Calyton said AI was a ‘gamechanger’ but it also posed ‘a threat’ during his DNI Senate confirmation hearing Donald Trump on Sunday named Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, to serve also as the new White House AI czar. Clayton, who leads the US’s 18 intelligence agencies, previously served as the top federal prosecutor

Residents of Dalby may soon live beside a $31bn datacentre. The premier sees ‘opportunity’ for the state – but others fear AI’s global creep From the veranda on his bush block, Denver Kanowski has watched resources companies come and go from rural Queensland for 70 years. The home cost him $800, and lets him live