Sci-Tech news

• Extreme weather 'potentially catastrophic' for bats

  04-05-2018 02:25 via bbc.co.uk
  Extreme weather appears to be disrupting the lifecycle of bats, raising concern over their long-term future.
  
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• Cisco's open-weight bug busters take on Google and OpenAI

  21-07-2026 23:17 via theregister.com
  
  Who needs expensive frontier models to find software vulns? Cisco has just released two open-weight models that specialize in finding known bugs in existing codebases. The models, Antares-350M and Antares-1B, are part of Cisco’s new Antares family of security small language models (SLMs), and are now available on Hugging Face - but only to vetted users. “We’re making sure we’re gating that and appropriately granting access,” DJ Sampath, Cisco's senior vice president
  
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• AI's cheatin' heart will make you weep

  21-07-2026 21:45 via theregister.com
  
  AI models will do just about anything to complete the task you ask, including cheating to get there, according to new cybersecurity evaluations from the UK government's AI Security Institute (AISI). The group found that leading models often take shortcuts to achieve a particular result and then misrepresent how they obtained that result. And they won't always admit it when asked. "Every model we have tested for this behaviour attempted to cheat," AISI said in a blog post on Tuesday. "Models did
  
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• US Marines' latest anti-drone toy is an AI turret that uses regular machine guns

  21-07-2026 21:14 via theregister.com
  
  The US military is adding autonomous gun-based counter-drone systems intended to reduce its reliance on expensive interceptor missiles. They also have the potential to kill humans. Defense robotics firm Allen Control Systems (ACS) announced a deal with the US Marine Corps on Monday to get its Bullfrog autonomous weapon system attached to the Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System (L-MADIS) expeditionary counter-drone platform. L-MADIS consists of pairs of off-road vehicles, one carrying a su
  
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• 'Take cover now' warnings issued as tornadoes close in on millions in the Northeast

  21-07-2026 20:39 via dailymail.com
  
  Millions of Americans are in the path of a major thunderstorm that could drop tornadoes across 17 states and wreak havoc on the evening commute.
  
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• Iran says it's struck offline AWS facility in Bahrain ... again

  21-07-2026 20:35 via theregister.com
  
  Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims it hit an AWS datacenter in Bahrain months after taking it offline for the first time, in a move it claimed as retaliation for a US attack on a nuclear plant that was under construction. The IRGC said in a statement on Tuesday that it had struck back at what it called the "child-killing US Army" by attacking Amazon infrastructure in Bahrain, claiming AWS's "central data infrastructure" had been "destroyed" after being hit by "several cruise
  
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• Nearly 50,000 wealthy Lake Tahoe locals face power crisis as Big Tech data centers drain grid

  21-07-2026 19:05 via dailymail.com
  
  One of America's wealthiest enclaves could struggle to keep the lights on as power is diverted to a rapidly expanding network of data centers.
  
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• Oracle faces $100M annual bill to back Wisconsin datacenter power promises

  21-07-2026 18:45 via theregister.com
  
  Oracle says that it could face more than $100 million a year in financing costs to guarantee the power commitments behind a nearly 1 GW datacenter campus it is developing in Wisconsin with Vantage and OpenAI. Local regulators have refused to revisit a decision that they say protects existing customers and improves public transparency around the energy-related needs of datacenters. Oracle's plans to build the Lighthouse Campus datacenter in Port Washington are supported by local utility We Energi
  
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• Kratos phishing-as-a-service kit loses its battle with international law enforcement

  21-07-2026 18:17 via theregister.com
  
  German authorities say they have neutralized the main infrastructure supporting the Kratos phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) kit following an operation supported by the US and Indonesia. Officers from Frankfurt am Main's Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) and the Federal Criminal Police (BKA) described Kratos as one of the most widespread and dangerous PhaaS kits on the market. In Indonesia, authorities said they arrested the Kratos kit's alleged "developer and technical administrator
  
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• Urgent tornado warning as forecast map shows severe storm outbreak threatening Northeast in just HOURS

  21-07-2026 17:52 via dailymail.com
  
  Millions of Americans are in the path of a major thunderstorm that could drop tornadoes across 17 states and wreak havoc on the evening commute.
  
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• Cosmic gymnastics: Study reveals how our Milky Way once underwent a dramatic FLIP

  21-07-2026 17:02 via dailymail.com
  
  While the Milky Way galaxy might look calm and stable today, scientists say a grand display of cosmic gymnastics once turned our world upside down.
  
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• Nvidia shows off Vera Rubin platform for tokenmaxxing

  21-07-2026 17:00 via theregister.com
  
  Last week, Nvidia invited a handful of journalists to a briefing about AI infrastructure to help convey the physical reality behind simulated intelligence. "Infrastructure is physical, it's real," said Ian Buck, general manager of Nvidia's hyperscale and HPC computing business. "You can touch it, you can see it, and it's what helps bring AI to life. So that is part of the goal here." The briefing included a tour of a working Nvidia lab – a mini-datacenter – nestled in a residential d
  
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• Windows 11 Start menu changes trickle into Beta, movable taskbar still MIA

  21-07-2026 16:15 via theregister.com
  
  Microsoft is moving more of its redesigned Start menu into the Windows 11 Beta channel, although the long-awaited movable taskbar remains confined to experimental builds. Build 26220.8925 was released last night to Windows Insiders in the Beta channel and has "a number of improvements for the Start menu," including controls for its size and sections. The Start menu has gained small and large size options alongside the existing default section-level toggles, a rename from Recommended to Recent, a
  
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• Can YOU guess the team? Take the test to see if you can distinguish between the World Cup teams based on their signature pass clusters

  21-07-2026 16:09 via dailymail.com
  
  Were you paying attention to each team's tactics during the World Cup, or were you too focused on the goals? A new test devised by scientists at Northeastern University will reveal the answer.
  
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• Massive Power Shortfall In Northeast Thanks To AI Data Centers

  21-07-2026 16:01 via technocracy.news
  
  Average electricity prices have surged by 18 percent across the U.S. since Trump took office in January 2025, driven in part by an energy deficit in the Northeast of 6.8 gigawatts. New Jersey consumers are hit hardest by a massive 27 percent shock wave with no end in sight. Technocracy was consumed with energy pricing in the 1930s, and now it comes full circle in 2026. ⁃ Patrick Wood, Editor.The largest US power grid failed for a third straight year to secure enough future supply comm
  
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• AI music platform Suno hits bum note as 55M users exposed in data breach, claims infosec expert

  21-07-2026 15:45 via theregister.com
  
  A data breach at AI music generator platform Suno exposed more than 55 million user accounts, according to Troy Hunt's Have I Been Pwned service, which ingested the files. The dump consisted mostly of email addresses, although phone numbers were also included where users had signed up with them instead, HIBP said. Tens of thousands of Stripe records further revealed data such as names, physical addresses, purchase amounts, as well as partial credit card data, such as card type, expiry date, and
  
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• Intel fortifies Foundry with an actual customer: Fortinet

  21-07-2026 15:00 via theregister.com
  
  Fortinet on Tuesday revealed it will use Intel Foundry to fab its sixth-gen Security Processor (SP6), a nice win for Chipzilla's sputtering chipmaking biz. The chips feature dedicated accelerators designed specifically for the security and cryptographic operations required by modern hardware firewalls. The custom chips are one of Fortinet's defining features. Many cybersecurity hardware players build appliances around commodity hardware like x86 and Arm CPUs, but Fortinet prefers custom applicat
  
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• Millions told to brace for life-threatening conditions as Tropical Storm Bertha barrels toward US coast

  21-07-2026 14:53 via dailymail.com
  
  Tropical Storm Bertha is expected to threaten millions with flooding, high winds and dangerous surf as it approaches the US coast.
  
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• LG monitors are using Windows 11 feature to serve adware

  21-07-2026 14:30 via theregister.com
  
  LG has come under fire over its Monitor App Installer, which is automatically and silently installed when plugging in some of the company's monitors. In this case, the monitor in question is a new LG UltraGear. Upon first connection to a Windows 11 device, the OS can check the associated device metadata and automatically install the manufacturer's UWP device app. For that to happen, Microsoft says the user must have opted into Recommended Settings during Windows setup, be signed in to the Micros
  
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• UK.gov's tech department gets the chop after two years

  21-07-2026 14:06 via theregister.com
  
  The UK government is scrapping the department charged with leading digital and tech change across the public sector. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) – created by former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – will see its responsibilities split among other departments after Science Secretary Liz Kendall was axed by new Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is set to become the Department for Digital, Culture, Me
  
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• Now that's what you call a cool idea! Japanese firms are selling 'fridges for humans' that chill you almost instantly - but they come at a hefty price

  21-07-2026 13:43 via dailymail.com
  
  With sweltering heatwaves becoming a regular summer occurrence, two Japanese firms have launched a very unusual way to beat the heat.
  
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• Valve's Steam Frame pushes Arch Linux toward official Arm64 support

  21-07-2026 13:30 via theregister.com
  
  Valve and Collabora are building an Arm64 port of Arch Linux for the Steam Frame VR gaming platform, with hopes that the work will eventually feed into the upstream distro. Arch Linux has spawned a whole family of derivatives, but the official upstream distro targets 64-bit x86 and nothing else. As the homepage says: "Currently we have official packages optimized for the x86-64 architecture." Valve and Collabora would like to change that. The pair are developing an Arm64 port called Holo Core, i
  
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• Chilling map shows where more than 117,000 surveillance cameras are hiding in the US... is your hometown being watched?

  21-07-2026 13:28 via dailymail.com
  
  A map has revealed a sprawling network of more than 117,000 license plate readers that critics claim create a detailed record of innocent Americans' movements.
  
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• Viking 1 landed on Mars 50 years ago

  21-07-2026 12:45 via theregister.com
  
  It has been half a century since NASA landed on Mars with the Viking 1 lander. Viking 1, one of a pair of Viking spacecraft, landed on Mars on July 20, 1976. Launched on August 20, 1975, Viking 1 arrived in orbit around Mars on June 19, 1976. The Viking program is, when adjusted for inflation, one of the most expensive robotic missions ever attempted by NASA. The spacecraft consisted of an orbiter, which was eventually shut down on August 7 as its attitude control gas was depleted, and a lander,
  
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• Arctic sea ice plunges to a record low: Study reveals how 'pause' in melting has ended - with 'exceptionally' diminished levels this year

  21-07-2026 12:10 via dailymail.com
  
  Arctic sea ice has plunged to a record low - with 'exceptionally' diminished levels this year, a new study has warned.
  
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• Scalding hot AI accelerators have put datacenters in hot water. Two-phase cooling could chill them out

  21-07-2026 12:00 via theregister.com
  
  Liquid cooling makes it possible to operate multi-kilowatt accelerators and ultra -dense datacenter racks, but new research commissioned by startup Accelsius suggests that we've been using the wrong liquids for the job. The company found different cooling fluids can shave millions off datacenter operating costs by allowing bit barns to run their water systems up to 14° C higher than existing systems. By swapping single-phase coolants used by existing GPU servers for two-phase fluids, like th
  
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• Sea level rise could plunge 1.7 MILLION Brits underwater by 2300, scientists warn - so, is your home at risk?

  21-07-2026 11:33 via dailymail.com
  
  Rising sea levels could plunge 1.7 million more Brits' homes underwater by 2300 and render parts of the UK uninhabitable, scientists have warned.
  
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• Some Mullvad VPN customers tunnel for exit after co-founder donates millions to populist party

  21-07-2026 11:15 via theregister.com
  
  Swedish VPN vendor Mullvad is facing a backlash from some customers after co-founder Daniel Berntsson personally donated SEK 5 million (£385,000, $519,000) to the controversial populist Örebropartiet, which is running in Sweden's national elections for the first time. Berntsson has this week published a blog post explaining the donation, alongside posts titled "Immigration," "Political individualism," and "Moral individualism." Before that, he had not posted since 2019. The flurry of
  
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• AI minister role boosted but tech department axed in Burnham shake-up

  21-07-2026 11:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Kanishka Narayan will attend cabinet - but no longer have the leadership of a technology secretary.
  
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• Super El Niño is EVOLVING: Models predict the terrifying climate pattern 'will persist into early 2027'

  21-07-2026 10:52 via dailymail.com
  
  New measurements show that El Niño conditions are strengthening across the tropical Pacific, with sea surface temperatures (SST) showing a steady upward trend.
  
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