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New large docodont fossil sheds light on Jurassic mammaliaform diversity <br> An international team led by Chinese scientists has discovered a new docodont mammaliaform species, the largest known of its kind, in Jurassic strata dating back about 160 million years, enriching scientific understanding of Jurassic mammaliaform diversity. The new species has been named Megacauda sungei. Its fossil specimen, discovered in Ningcheng, north China&#39;s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, measures roughly 52 centimeters in length and is estimated to have weighed around 2 kilograms, making it the largest known docodont mammaliaform. Its skull is clearly preserved, its trunk is robust, and its most striking feature is an unusually long, coiled tail. The specimen also retains well-preserved pelvic bones, hind limbs and tail vertebrae, suggesting it was adapted for swimming. Based on its distinctive teeth, researchers believe it could have hunted small animals living in the same envi...

3 in 5 AI models fail terrorism safety tests: Study <br> Three in five artificial intelligence (AI) models have failed terrorism safety tests, with models stripped of safeguards consistently providing potentially dangerous information, according to research reported by CBC News on Friday. The study, conducted by the UK-based nonprofit Tech Against Terrorism, evaluated more than 130 AI models using hundreds of requests resembling those a terrorist planning an attack might submit. Researchers found that models modified through a process known as &quot;abliteration,&quot; which removes safety safeguards, failed every test. Meta&#39;s Llama 3.1 8B model scored 97 out of 100 on the organization&#39;s safety benchmark before modification, compared with approximately three afterward. Researchers said the modified model provided detailed responses to requests involving attacks, terrorist financing and radicalization, while its original version refused such reques...

Under new regulations, Turkiye bans children under 15 from social media <br> Turkiye has barred social network providers from offering services to minors under the age of 15, according to new Cyber Security Directorate regulations published on Saturday in the Official Gazette. The regulation said providers &quot;cannot provide services to children who have not reached the age of 15.&quot; Providers must also offer differentiated services and take necessary measures for users 15 and older, according to the regulations, adding that they should consider the minor&rsquo;s best interests and their physical, mental, psychological, social, and emotional development. Age verification must prioritise personal data protection, using methods that determine only whether a user meets the age threshold rather than establishing identity, it added. Read:&nbsp;Making sense of AI on social media Saying that providers must make the reliability of verification methods, thei...

Margaret Hamilton, scientist who worked on NASA's Apollo programme, dead at 90 <br> American scientist Margaret Hamilton, who led development of the computer system used by NASA&#39;s Apollo lunar programme, has died at the age of 90, her former employer said Wednesday. In a statement, the Massachussetts Institute of Technology called Hamilton, who taught at the prestigious university from 1959 to the mid-1970s, a &quot;computing pioneer&quot; and said she died on September 30. We&rsquo;ve lost an icon. Margaret Hamilton, a computer science pioneer best known for her work at MIT leading development of the flight software for the Apollo missions to the moon, has died at 90. Read about her legacy via MIT News: https://t.co/ODkbdIsoHw pic.twitter.com/M2xauYYUkU &mdash; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (@MIT) October 7, 2026 &quot;To say Margaret Hamilton was a pioneer &mdash;&nbsp;to say she was ahead of her time &mdash;...

Trump discloses Nvidia stock trades as he prepares to honor CEO Huang <br> President Donald Trump bought as much as $1.6 million and sold as much as $1 million in Nvidia stock ​in August, according to his latest financial disclosure, which &zwnj;was released on Thursday as he prepared to award Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang the nation&#39;s highest honor for scientific achievement. The new disclosure of ​the president&#39;s investment in one of the world&#39;s most ​valuable companies comes as his administration weighs policies ⁠that could shape Nvidia&#39;s fortunes, including rules governing exports of ​its advanced chips. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement ​to Reuters that third-party financial institutions independently manage the president&#39;s portfolio and replicate &quot;recognised indexes, such as the Schwab 1000.&quot; Read More: US suspends Microsoft, major IT firms from key green card programme Huang is set to r...

India denies Elon Musk's claim Starlink 'blocked by oligarchs' <br> India on Thursday denied Elon Musk&#39;s claim that &ldquo;certain oligarchs&rdquo; were blocking Starlink&#39;s satellite communication services in the country to maintain their monopoly, terming it baseless. Without directly naming Musk, India&rsquo;s Communications Ministry said in a statement that the government has put in place a fair and non-discriminatory authorisation framework for all telecommunication services, including satellite communication services. It said telecom licences have been granted to three global mobile personal communication by Satellite services based on &ldquo;non-geosynchronous satellite orbit based satellite communications.&rdquo; pic.twitter.com/qIOih9RtMp &mdash; PIB_INDIA Ministry of Communications (@pib_comm) October 8, 2026 The statement said security assessment &ldquo;as part of this process is currently under way in ...

Most US voters say Trump, Congress don't take AI risks seriously, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds <br> Most US voters think President Donald Trump&#39;s administration and Congress are not&nbsp;taking AI risks seriously enough and want the government to ​write new regulations for the technology, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. The six-day survey, which ended on Monday, showed that large swaths of the electorate see AI as a major threat to American jobs, underscoring growing scepticism of the technology across the political spectrum. The fast-advancing technology has become a matter of keen national interest amid reports of AI agents running amok and hacking into corporate computer networks, and warnings from prominent researchers that it could one day pose an existential threat to humanity. Noisy, power-hungry data centres that power AI also increasingly pose a nuisance when they pop up near neighbourhoods while jacking up ​utility bills. Read:&nbsp;OpenAI...

Kagan and Soai win 2026 Nobel chemistry prize for single molecular mirror creation <br> Scientists Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for solving a long-standing riddle of how to form a single ​molecular mirror image, a discovery hugely important for pharmaceutical manufacturing, the award-giving body said on Wednesday. &quot;This is &zwnj;the most exciting day in my life; I am very glad to share this prize with Professor Henri Kagan,&quot; Soai said, speaking by phone to the Nobel Prize press conference, adding he had been out shopping when receiving the news. BREAKING NEWS The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2026 #NobelPrize in Chemistry to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai &ldquo;for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.&rdquo; pic.twitter.com/nH090ql1Xc &mdash; The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2026 The chemistry Nobel, always the ​th...

DeepSeek set to net over $12b in new fundraising, source says <br> Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is set to raise more than 80 billion yuan ($11.93 billion) in its latest funding round, said ​one person with knowledge of the matter, as the firm &zwnj;builds up a war chest of capital ahead of a domestic IPO. DeepSeek kicked off the fundraising in July targeting a valuation of 500 billion yuan ($74 billion), a month ​after raising about $7.4 billion in its maiden external funding round, ​Reuters reported. The second fundraising has drawn massive interest from existing ⁠and new investors and the capital committed exceeds DeepSeek&#39;s original target of ​50 billion yuan, said the source. DeepSeek is expected to wrap up the ​fundraising in October, said the person and a second source with knowledge of the matter. Both sources declined to be identified as the information was confidential. DeepSeek did not ​immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Bloomber...

Alien 'phoenix planet' was born from the ashes of a dying star <br> In ancient mythology, the phoenix was a miraculous bird with a cyclical pattern of life and death, perishing in flames only to rise again from the ashes. Astronomers have now found a world that rightly can be called a phoenix planet. Researchers said this exoplanet, as planets beyond our solar system are called, appears to have been born from material expelled into space during the death throes of a star a bit bigger than the sun, and now orbits the highly compact stellar remnant that was left behind, called a white dwarf. It is classified as a second-generation planet, meaning it did not form from the swirling disk of material surrounding a newborn star, as Earth and other first-generation planets did, but rather from the leftovers of a doomed star. &quot;This is the first example of a planet forming around a white dwarf,&quot; said Jamie Williams, a doctoral student in astrophysics at th...

Norway to propose temporary ban on AI glasses in some public places <br> Norway&#39;s government said on Monday it plans to propose a temporary ban on the use of ​AI glasses in selected places, saying it is concerned &zwnj;people could be photographed, filmed or audio-recorded without their knowledge. The proposal mirrors a broader global backlash against smart glasses equipped with cameras ​over privacy concerns Ban could apply to places where the public ​regularly gather, such as parks, beaches, museums, shopping ⁠centres and public events, the government said in a ​statement &quot;I am worried that new, powerful technology is being introduced ​where people risk being photographed, filmed or audio-recorded without knowing it,&quot; Digitalisation and Public Governance Minister Torgeir Micaelsen said. Read More: LISA teams up with Meta for exclusive smart glasses collection It could also apply ​to schools, playgrounds and youth clubs and to privacy-sens...

Instagram turns 16 with 3 billion users under shadow of data privacy, mental health concerns <br> Instagram is celebrating its 16th anniversary since the social media giant was launched and emerged as a dominant force in the global digital economy, boasting over 3 billion monthly active users, but escalating scrutiny over data privacy and youth mental health casts dark shadows over the platform&rsquo;s success. Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger launched Instagram as a photo-sharing app on October 6, 2010. The platform was acquired by Meta two years later for around $1 billion, and the social media titan grew even further with the introduction of video sharing and direct messages in 2013 and short-form Reels in 2020. India has the platform&rsquo;s largest user base, accounting for 480 million active users, followed by the US, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, T&uuml;rkiye, Mexico, the UK, Germany, and Argentina, according to Statista&rsquo;s October 2025 data. The pl...

China Focus: A taste of home in orbit: How China keeps its astronauts well-fed <br> Although called Tiangong, or &quot;Heavenly Palace,&quot; China&#39;s space station is becoming less distant and more like home, as astronauts bring the comforting tastes into orbit. The Chinese space kitchen now serves nearly 200 food items. Alongside dumplings and mooncakes, home-style dishes such as Kung Pao chicken, mapo tofu and fried rice have made it onto the station&#39;s menu. Videos showing astronauts savoring freshly cooked meat and cakes in orbit have gone viral. Their smiling faces and bright eyes make the aroma almost leap off the screen. Yang Liwei, the country&#39;s first astronaut, joked at a recent press conference that he was envious. He said astronauts can now use air-frying equipment in space and enjoy baked chicken wings in orbit. During his Shenzhou-5 mission in 2003, which lasted less than one day, his diet was limited to packaged instant food th...

OpenAI safety employee quits, says ‘time for trial and error is over’ <br> A former OpenAI safety employee who recently resigned has criticised the company&rsquo;s approach to AI safety, arguing that a fast-paced culture focused on rapid development increases the risk of failures. Writing in &ldquo;I Quit OpenAI Because Its Culture Is Broken&rdquo;, published by The Atlantic on Saturday, David Robinson said AI companies, including OpenAI, were not being &ldquo;nearly careful enough&rdquo; and should place greater emphasis on safety expertise and research before developing more capable systems. &ldquo;The time for trial and error is over,&rdquo; Robinson wrote, arguing that advanced AI systems require safeguards more akin to those used in industries such as nuclear power and aviation. Robinson said OpenAI relies heavily on what it calls &ldquo;iterative deployment&rdquo;, releasing systems and strengthening safeguards when problems emerg...

Trump names intelligence chief Clayton as AI czar, to head task force, WSJ reports <br> United States President Donald Trump&nbsp;has appointed Director of National&nbsp;Intelligence Jay Clayton&nbsp;as the administration&#39;s&nbsp;AI&nbsp;czar, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing an interview with&nbsp;Clayton. Clayton, who was appointed&nbsp;intelligence&nbsp;chief&nbsp;in August, will lead a new White House panel&nbsp;tasked with reporting within 120 days on the risks and opportunities posed by&nbsp;AI, the newspaper said. &quot;The president asked that a group be put together,&quot; which the administration refers to as the &quot;Super&nbsp;Intelligence&nbsp;Force,&quot; to ensure the US remains a leader in advanced&nbsp;AI&nbsp;while protecting Americans&#39; interests,&nbsp;Clayton&nbsp;told the Journal, adding that &quot;the risk of not being first is hi...

How Chinese robot dancers find their rhythm on American TV show <br> A jade pendant bearing a small golden Sanxingdui mask rested against dancer Wu Yufei&#39;s chest as he stepped onto the stage of the &quot;America&#39;s Got Talent&quot; finale. Commissioned by his wife, this piece of home was by his side as he wowed the audience. At the finale, 27-year-old Wu, from Sichuan Province in southwestern China, shared the stage with humanoid robots made by Unitree, performing in a fusion of robotics, ink-wash aesthetics, and contemporary stage performance. &quot;Robots are not merely technological achievements, but can also become creative partners on stage and a new medium for artistic expression,&quot; said Fang Zhenghua, the Chengdu choreographer who directed the team&#39;s performances. Wu said their experience in the United States has been genuinely heartwarming. He, along with Fang, showcased not only the advances in humanoid robot technology,...

AI's race to transform the world before the money runs out <br> Never has so much cash flowed into a new technology as is pouring into AI, eclipsing the sums splurged on railways or the internet when those technological revolutions sucked in capital. Cumulative spending globally on data centres alone could top $30 trillion by 2050, according to a projection by PwC, almost matching the value of outstanding United States Treasuries. It &quot;dwarfs&quot; what was spent in the railroad or dotcom booms, even after adjusting for inflation, PwC said. Meanwhile, Anthropic, just one of the major firms in the AI&nbsp;race, plans to spend $518 billion in coming years, according to the IPO prospectus seen by Reuters, which is more than 100 times its 2025 revenue. Read:&nbsp;Trump tells AI bosses to self-regulate Its backers say AI technology will be more&nbsp;transformational than the advent of steam engines and the industrialisation they powered. Yet lurki...

New Mexico wants Meta to pay up to $40 billion in penalties after data privacy trial <br> The state of New Mexico asked a judge on Thursday to order Meta Platforms to pay between $35 billion ​and $40 billion in penalties after a jury found the company had misled consumers about the privacy of their data on Facebook in &zwnj;a case that came out of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Attorneys for New Mexico made the request at a hearing in a lawsuit brought following revelations that the British political consulting firm, which worked on Donald Trump&#39;s 2016 presidential campaign, harvested personal data from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a third-party app without their consent. The jury returned its verdict ​on September 25. Judge Francis Mathew, who oversaw the trial in Santa Fe, will decide how much Meta must pay in financial penalties. Attorneys ​for Meta and New Mexico clashed at the hearing over how much was appropriate to order, with Meta arg...

OpenAI dismisses 3 researchers over alleged mishandling of sensitive information <br> OpenAI has dismissed three researchers after an internal investigation concluded that they mishandled sensitive company information, the ChatGPT developer told news outlets. &ldquo;We have parted ways with three individuals&rdquo; for violating information-access and handling policies, an OpenAI spokesperson said. The company said the researchers dealt with sensitive material outside its established procedures, violating internal rules and undermining the trust required for its work. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the dismissals late Thursday, identified the researchers as Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni. It said the alleged misconduct included sharing confidential information with an external AI-safety organization that was helping analyze OpenAI&rsquo;s models. Neither the outside organization nor the material allegedly shared was identified p...

OpenAI agents obscured hacking activity targeting government websites: security firm <br> OpenAI&rsquo;s artificial intelligence (AI) agents obscured hacking activity targeting government websites, according to findings by digital forensics firm Asymmetric Security a day earlier. The investigation found that the agents pulled data from 55 websites belonging to government agencies, businesses and nonprofits, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the International Energy Agency and the Mayo Clinic. Asymmetric said the agents erased records or made them inaccessible, limiting the ability of outside auditors and researchers to scrutinise their actions. Read: OpenAI agents accessed information from US govt sites, company says The agents also created temporary email inboxes and private accounts on Urlquery, a website malware-scanning service, to download data. Researchers said these tactics prevent...