Sci-Tech news

• Climate change driven by humans made heatwave 'twice as likely'

  27-07-2018 13:05 via bbc.co.uk
  The Europe-wide heatwave is an unambiguous signal of climate change, say researchers.
  
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• Prehistoric discovery in the Oregon mountains older than Egypt's Great Pyramid could rewrite human history

  10-07-2026 18:22 via dailymail.com
  
  Artifacts found in the Oregon mountains challenge a long-held belief of human history. The discovery is also four times older than Egypt's Great Pyramid.
  
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• Orbital datacenter gold rush needs an environmental review, FCC told

  10-07-2026 18:02 via theregister.com
  
  Environmental groups want the FCC to slam the brakes on orbital datacenters, arguing the agency shouldn't approve constellations they say would total more than a million satellites before taking a hard look at their environmental impact. Earthjustice, acting on behalf of DarkSky International, Environment America, and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), filed a petition this week urging the regulator to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) under the
  
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• OpenAI's Atlas browser doesn't make it to its first birthday

  10-07-2026 16:59 via theregister.com
  
  OpenAI has decided its AI browser experiment has run its course, pulling the plug on ChatGPT Atlas less than a year after launch and moving its browser-based agent features into ChatGPT and Codex. The company said Atlas will stop working on August 9 as it rolls out the newly unveiled ChatGPT Work platform. Atlas arrived last October with no shortage of ambition. Rather than trying to out-Chrome Chrome, OpenAI wanted to bolt ChatGPT directly onto the web, promising a browser that could read pages
  
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• Would YOU trust these people? Fake faces created by AI look MORE trustworthy than real people, study reveals - take the test to see if you can tell the difference

  10-07-2026 16:08 via dailymail.com
  
  Can you tell the difference between a real face and one generated by AI? According to a new study, it might be a lot harder than you think.
  
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• AI-driven datacenter builds drive Microsoft's emissions up a quarter in one year

  10-07-2026 16:01 via theregister.com
  
  Microsoft says it matched its entire electricity consumption with renewable energy last year. The bad news is it also increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25 percent due to datacenter construction. The cloud and software biz has released a 2026 Environmental Sustainability Report [PDF], claiming its environmental sustainability work is entering a new phase due to rapid technological change. A global shift towards AI is reshaping economies, the report claims, which is becoming “found
  
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• Monster of the deep: Scientists capture the first EVER footage of a Barreleye Fish deep in the Atlantic

  10-07-2026 16:00 via dailymail.com
  
  One of the ocean's eeriest creatures has emerged from the darkness. Scientists have captured the first ever footage of a rare species of barreleye fish alive in its natural habitat.
  
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• The fake air cons fooling Britain: Experts warn against products 'designed by NASA' that promise to cool a room in 90 seconds

  10-07-2026 15:17 via dailymail.com
  
  The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said some companies are exploiting demand for portable AC units, making exaggerated claims that lure desperate customers in
  
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• Clearest image of jellyfish UAP and silent craft that breached US nuclear base revealed in Trump's latest UFO files

  10-07-2026 15:16 via dailymail.com
  
  The Trump administration on Friday released its fourth batch of never-before-seen UFO files, shedding new light on unexplained sightings investigated by the US.
  
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• EU puts 'addictive' design of Facebook, Instagram under the DSA microscope

  10-07-2026 14:59 via theregister.com
  
  Meta may have breached the European Union's Digital Services Act by designing Facebook and Instagram to keep users glued to their screens, with Brussels saying that features such as infinite scroll and autoplay should be switched off by default. The European Commission on Friday published preliminary findings accusing the social media giant of failing to properly assess or mitigate the risks posed by what it describes as the addictive design of its platforms. The investigation centers on infinit
  
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• Trump's bombshell UFO files expose eerie eight-point object and silent craft that breached US nuclear base

  10-07-2026 14:50 via dailymail.com
  
  The Trump administration on Friday released its fourth batch of never-before-seen UFO files, shedding new light on unexplained sightings investigated by the US.
  
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• Capita hears demand for pension scheme cleanup 'loud and clear' – but won't say yes

  10-07-2026 14:41 via theregister.com
  
  Capita has yet to agree to reimburse the UK government for the full cost of recovering the failing Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) it administers. In a testy Parliamentary hearing in which Capita was called to account for its performance since taking over the CSPS, Adolfo Hernandez, group chief executive, refused to be drawn on whether the company would pay the full amount that the government had invested in emergency support. Capita's CSPS went live in December last year, after which The Re
  
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• Fashion mart Miinto unzips breach details, warns shoppers to watch for phisherfolk

  10-07-2026 14:10 via theregister.com
  
  Danish ecommerce company Miinto admitted an intruder has been looking at its order data, according to emails it sent to customers this week. The emails, seen by The Register, do not comment on the scale of the data accessed by the perp or how exactly the breach occurred, although UK-based customers of the Copenhagen-HQ'd biz have received them. “We are writing to let you know about a security incident that may have affected some of the personal data associated with a purchase you made on M
  
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• The point of no return? Scientists warn collapse of one of Earth's most important ocean currents may already be locked in

  10-07-2026 13:24 via dailymail.com
  
  The collapse of one of Earth's most important ocean currents may already be locked in, according to an ominous new study.
  
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• When will the world end? Scientists calculate when the last life on Earth will die

  10-07-2026 12:32 via dailymail.com
  
  Every tree, flower and blade of grass will one day wither and die - and scientists now believe they have worked out when that bleak moment will arrive.
  
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• Cinnamon 6.8 will support Wayland – if you want it

  10-07-2026 12:00 via theregister.com
  
  The latest Linux Mint blog says that its Wayland support is about ready for primetime – but X11 isn’t going away. Linux Mint lead developer Clement Lefebvre has published the Linux Mint blog for June 2026, announcing that as of the next version of the Cinnamon desktop, it will officially drop “experimental” status for Wayland: this will be a fully supported way to use the Cinnamon desktop environment. You will have to be patient, though – the post says: “The i
  
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• Scot NHS Trust probes email stuffup involving maternity patients' data

  10-07-2026 11:17 via theregister.com
  
  A staff member sent the personal details of around 150 women who were in contact with a Scottish NHS Trust’s maternity services to their own personal email account, the Trust has revealed. NHS Forth Valley, the health board that oversees NHS services in the region between Edinburgh and Glasgow, said it is investigating the matter and has contacted the women affected. “An internal investigation is underway after a member of staff transferred a spreadsheet containing an extract of data
  
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• BOFH: Cross-department AI pitches are easier to swallow with a pint in hand

  10-07-2026 10:30 via theregister.com
  
  EPISODE 13 "It's just a quick pitch session. You won't have to stay long," the Boss wheedles. "Thanks, but..." I reply. "Come on, you'll meet some new people." "Boring people," the PFY interjects. "... and hear some stories..." "Boring stories..." "You might even learn something!" the Boss pleads. "Something boring," the PFY says. And he's not wrong. Cross-department pitch sessions are drier than a sawdust sandwich in the Sahara. To add insult to injury, the sessions are scheduled at the end of
  
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• Datacenter MacGyver saved the biggest football match of the year

  10-07-2026 08:30 via theregister.com
  
  ON CALL The 2026 FIFA World Cup continues and at the time of writing, The Register's home nation – England – remains in with a chance to bring home the trophy! We therefore devote this week's edition of On Call, our weekly reader-contributed tale of tech support, to the beautiful game. We're able to do so thanks to a reader we'll Regomize as "George" who once pulled off a great save when, decades ago, he worked as one half of the two-person tech team at one of Europe's most famous fo
  
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• Red Hat offers RHEL support ‘forever’ for those who need to lock in to legacy tech

  10-07-2026 06:46 via theregister.com
  
  Red Hat has created a new support offering for its flagship Enterprise Linux that it characterizes as “RHEL forever” and has “no pre-determined end date.” The IBM business unit says the offering, formally known as “The Long-Life Add-On,” will “keep older minor or major versions of RHEL secure and stable” by providing critical patches, urgent bug fixes, and 24x7 tech support for as long as customers keep paying for it. Red Hat reckons the super-exte
  
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• Microsoft warns customers AI will mean busier Patch Tuesdays

  10-07-2026 03:56 via theregister.com
  
  Microsoft has warned customers to expect more security patches for the foreseeable future, thanks to AI. “As AI helps defenders discover more issues, customers will see a higher volume of security updates included in each security release,” the company’s executive veep for Windows + Devices, Pavan Davuluri, wrote in a Thursday post that describes how Microsoft is changing its internal processes to spot software vulnerabilities using AI. His post later points out that Microsoft
  
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• Are you a Dreamer, Rebel or Zigzagger? Research reveals nine types of procrastinators - and how to help them all

  10-07-2026 01:02 via dailymail.com
  
  Research has revealed that there are actually nine distinct types of procrastinators.
  
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• An unnamed US county – perhaps in Ohio – paid $1M extortion demand to cybercriminals

  10-07-2026 00:30 via theregister.com
  
  A US county reportedly paid $1 million to Kairos, an extortion gang that claimed to have stolen more than 2 TB of data, but the county never received independently verifiable proof that the stolen files had been deleted - just the criminals' promise. This means the county’s stolen files may turn up for sale on a dark web forum, and the same (or another) crime crew could again demand an extortion payment to not leak the data. It’s also a reminder that, despite the feds urging victims
  
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• AI slop writing has taken over the internet, particularly LinkedIn and X

  09-07-2026 23:01 via theregister.com
  
  No surprise here. A study from AI detection platform Pangram suggests that social media posts are teeming with AI-generated slop, particularly if the posts are long and especially if they live on LinkedIn or X. If you’re sick of reading non-human prose, we’d recommend getting off the platforms altogether. Along with offering your typical AI-content detection services, Pangram released a Chrome extension at the end of April that, with a $20/month subscription, will automatically scan
  
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• I'm a priest and the Bible gives us proof of what UFOs really are... here's what Jesus told us

  09-07-2026 21:01 via dailymail.com
  
  A priest has identified several Bible passages he believes hold the key to understanding UFOs.
  
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• AI tool scours the web for job openings, preps your resume and cover letter

  09-07-2026 19:40 via theregister.com
  
  Combing through job postings and company help wanted pages for a position that matches your resume is the very definition of drudge work. Now, there's an AI designed to suck up information from the web, do the search for you, and even help you apply. Software developer Tarun Gupta created just such a tool in the form of Autopilot-Jobhunt. When configured with a profile of the user and their desired jobs (and what they absolutely won’t accept in an opening), A-J will scan the web while user
  
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• OpenMandriva claims disgruntled admin trashed repos after community bust-up

  09-07-2026 19:15 via theregister.com
  
  OpenMandriva has accused a former contributor of using his trusted admin access to trash repositories and push a package that could have broken desktop installations after a community dispute spilled over into the project's infrastructure. The Linux distribution disclosed the incident in a forum post this week, describing what it called an attempted act of "distribution sabotage" allegedly involving Davide Beatrici, a developer known for his work on the Mumble instant messaging app. According to
  
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• Hidden detail in iconic 1962 World Cup photo sparks wild 'time traveler' theories

  09-07-2026 18:59 via dailymail.com
  
  With the World Cup underway in the US, a photo from the 1962 tournament has gone viral after fans claimed it showed a 'time traveler' hidden in the crowd.
  
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• SAP makes it easier for customers to shop for legacy product support, ending EU antitrust probe

  09-07-2026 18:46 via theregister.com
  
  The European Commission has ended an investigation into possible anticompetitive practices after SAP agreed to abolish reinstatement fees and reduce back-maintenance fees. The move could reduce barriers for customers considering third-party support for products nearing the end of their vendor support terms, including thousands of large businesses that rely on SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) to run their business operations. SAP's mainstream support for ECC ends in December 2027, while customers
  
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• Outlook for Mac bug makes font choice a purely decorative feature

  09-07-2026 18:30 via theregister.com
  
  Microsoft's apparent ambition to make Outlook the worst email client for Mac shows no sign of fading after a recent update broke font selection in emails. The problem occurs when composing an email. Outlook uses the default font as the user types, but will ignore any request to select something different. Several threads have appeared on Microsoft's forums about the issue, and a moderator confirmed that something was amiss in a post on July 8. One workaround is to roll back to an earlier version
  
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