Sci-Tech news

• Nasa is hiding proof of alien life on Mars, claims Barry DiGregorio

  05-03-2018 15:42 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The findings were made by Barry DiGregorio from the University of Buckingham, who specialises in studies of microscopic life in the soil of our planet.
  
  Read more

• EU datacenter green scorecard finally escapes Brussels

  22-09-2026 15:32 via theregister.com
  
  Brussels has adopted its long-awaited sustainability rating scheme for energy-guzzling datacenters, with minimum performance standards potentially next. The European Commission this week unveiled its Data Centre Energy Efficiency Package. It includes a common EU rating scheme and electronic label intended to make facilities' environmental performance easier to compare. A separate 12-week consultation asks whether minimum standards should be introduced to phase out the least efficient technologie
  
  Read more

• Register reader hit with surprise bill after Microsoft portals disagreed

  22-09-2026 15:00 via theregister.com
  
  A synchronization issue between Microsoft systems left at least one customer facing an unexpected bill after two portals showed different credit balances. A Register reader found themself on the hook for $16,000 in September after a balance that looked healthy had actually hit rock bottom and a subscription switched to pay-as-you-go. Our reader was one of many who signed up for Microsoft for Startups, a program that offers eligible businesses credits and other resources to build on Microsoft&rsq
  
  Read more

• Civo plots 40 edge datacenters to power Britain's sovereign AI

  22-09-2026 14:13 via theregister.com
  
  UK cloud provider Civo plans to build 40 edge datacenters to bring sovereign AI services closer to customers, with the first due to open in Hertfordshire by March 2027. The longer-term target is 1 GW of capacity across the country, with Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 systems providing the computing power to run AI applications from UK-owned facilities. The Hertfordshire site is expected to open with 8 MW of capacity and eventually expand to 38 MW. Civo says it has secured five further sites in Lancashi
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Why is it still so warm in the UK? Met Office predicts temperatures could hit 26C in late-September heatwave - as furious Brits plead 'please give us a break'

  22-09-2026 13:57 via dailymail.com
  
  The Met Office predicts that southern areas could reach 26°C today, while people in the north can expect balmy highs of 22°C.
  
  Read more

• Campaigners tell Burnham not to trade away the UK's tech tax to please Trump

  22-09-2026 13:38 via theregister.com
  
  Campaigners are urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham to defend the UK's Digital Services Tax (DST) when he meets Donald Trump in New York later today. Civil society organizations have written to Burnham and Chancellor John Healey, asking them to resist pressure to scrap the tax. Trump regards it as one of the European levies that create unfair trade barriers for US companies and has threatened the UK with a "big tariff" if it keeps the DST. Introduced in 2020, the DST applies a 2 percent tax to ce
  
  Read more

• Six-year-old Chinese girl sets new Rubik's Cube world record with average time under 4.5 seconds

  22-09-2026 13:36 via dailymail.com
  
  Lian Yunzhi broke the record for the 3x3x3 puzzle twice in just three days during competitions in Wuhan and Guangzho
  
  Read more

• Why is it still so warm in the UK? Met Office predicts temperatures could hit 26°C in late-September heatwave - as furious Brits plead 'please give us a break'

  22-09-2026 13:16 via dailymail.com
  
  The Met Office predicts that southern areas could reach 26°C today, while people in the north can expect balmy highs of 22°C.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Man vs robot: Influencer takes on 6ft humanoid in a terrifying cage fight - and it doesn't end well for him

  22-09-2026 13:15 via dailymail.com
  
  It might sound like the plot of a bonkers sci-fi film, but the world has now witnessed the very first human vs robot boxing match.
  
  Read more

• Super El Niño breaks the temperature record months BEFORE its peak - as scientists warn it will be largest in at least 1,000 years

  22-09-2026 13:12 via dailymail.com
  
  Super El Niño has broken temperature records months before it reaches its peak, experts have revealed.
  
  Read more

• NHS Trust IT blunder overwrites 11 years of maternity records

  22-09-2026 12:45 via theregister.com
  
  Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust managed to overwrite a maternity database spanning more than a decade after someone forgot to change a setting in a reused set of computer instructions. The mishap happened on August 18, when staff carrying out routine technical work to copy a radiotherapy database for reporting used a set of pre-written instructions that had previously been run against another hospital system. There was just one problem: a setting needed changing first, and nobody chang
  
  Read more

• Longtime SUSE staff asked if they'd opt for 'voluntary separation'

  22-09-2026 12:00 via theregister.com
  
  SUSE has offered "voluntary separation" to eligible employees as the veteran Linux vendor reshapes its business, The Register can confirm. One source said People, Strategy and Transformation Executive Lisa Sherwell contacted them with the offer after an online company meeting broadcast from Singapore, during which executives joked about being past their own sell-by dates. Asked about the program, a SUSE representative told us: "As part of our ongoing efforts to align our business structure with
  
  Read more

• Commodore's forgotten Amiga Unix gets a modern revival

  22-09-2026 11:15 via theregister.com
  
  A vintage Unix window manager and an entire vintage UNIX operating system that uses it have received modern updates. Yes, AI helped, but we're here for it. The Commodore Amiga is one of the best-loved computers of the 1980s: The Register celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2015. Its many fans remember it primarily as a home computer and, in its day, the ultimate games machine. Later in the Amiga's life, however, Commodore hoped to sell its more powerful models as Unix workstations. In 1991, Commo
  
  Read more

• GOV.UK founder warns AI gold rush could leave Britain locked in

  22-09-2026 10:30 via theregister.com
  
  Britain risks swapping its dependence on foreign technology suppliers for an even deeper reliance on a handful of AI providers, according to GOV.UK founder Mike Bracken. Bracken, who founded the Government Digital Service (GDS) and served as the UK's first Government Chief Data Officer, says governments and other institutions are gradually giving up control over critical systems as they pile more technology dependencies onto their operations. "Institutions rarely lose sovereignty in a crisis. Th
  
  Read more

• Alibaba Cloud plans six-year stroll to 20GW of datacenters, reveals chip to power them

  22-09-2026 07:42 via theregister.com
  
  Chinese tech giant Alibaba has outlined an ambition to expand its datacenter fleet to 20GW of capacity, and chip that will help it get there. CEO Eddie Wu announced those ambitions today at Alibaba’s Apsara conference, where he delivered a speech that likened current AI applications to light bulbs, because electric light was an early application of electricity but the really important stuff came along decades later. He also compared AI to steam engines. “Steam and combustion engines
  
  Read more

• Early Reader Weighs In On Crucible of Tokens

  22-09-2026 05:26 via technocracy.news
  
  Crucible of Tokens is the capstone of my trilogy, started 10 months ago with The Final Betrayal with Courtenay Turner. Then came The New Economics of Technocracy, which explained the mechanics of “You will own nothing.” Now comes the “gloves off” accusation that tokenization, driven by AI, is going to strip the world bare of real property, in terms of deeds, titles, and ownership in general. Keep your hand on your wallet. Take courage and take cover,  because it&rsqu
  
  Read more

• Gartner predicts 55 percent of enterprise VMware users will be investigating an exit by 2029

  22-09-2026 04:39 via theregister.com
  
  Analyst firm Gartner believes over half of VMware users will start evaluating alternative hybrid cloud platforms yet still rates the Broadcom business unit a leader in two major markets. Gartner predicted increased interest in VMware exits in its Magic Quadrant for Distributed Hybrid Infrastructure (DHI) – aka hybrid clouds – which opens with a “Strategic Planning Assumption” that “By 2029, 55 percent of enterprises will initiate proofs of concept for alternative di
  
  Read more

• Gartner predicts 55% of enterprise VMware users will be investigating an exit by 2029

  22-09-2026 04:39 via theregister.com
  
  Analyst firm Gartner believes over half of VMware users will start evaluating alternative hybrid cloud platforms yet still rates the Broadcom business unit a leader in two major markets. Gartner predicted increased interest in VMware exits in its Magic Quadrant for Distributed Hybrid Infrastructure (DHI) – aka hybrid clouds – which opens with a “Strategic Planning Assumption” that “By 2029, 55 percent of enterprises will initiate proofs of concept for alternative di
  
  Read more

• United flights resume after cut telecom wire triggered travel chaos and seven-hour delays across US

  22-09-2026 02:24 via dailymail.com
  
  Passengers at several East Coast airports were left stranded Monday after an accidentally severed cable brought flights to a halt.
  
  Read more

• California tightens datacenter rules on water and power

  22-09-2026 01:33 via theregister.com
  
  California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signed seven state bills that require datacenter operators to report more info about their operations, and to involve communities as they plan future facilities. The California Assembly Bills (AB) and Senate Bills (SB) signed by Newsom require greater disclosure of datacenter water and electricity use, address who pays for grid connections and other power infrastructure, and introduce rules covering electricity rates, water resources, and environmental
  
  Read more

• Anthropic-linked CVEs pile up, attackers mostly shrug

  22-09-2026 00:32 via theregister.com
  
  Despite the concern that advanced AI models’ bug-hunting prowess will lead to attackers exploiting more newly uncovered CVEs, fewer than 0.5 percent of the vulnerabilities linked to Anthropic or Project Glasswing are being batttered in the wild, according to VulnCheck security researcher Patrick Garrity. Garrity began tracking CVEs attributed to Project Glasswing, Anthropic’s initiative to give select partners access to its Claude Mythos Preview model, shortly after the AI company an
  
  Read more

• United cancels ALL flights at major airport after cut wire triggers travel chaos and seven-hour delays across US

  21-09-2026 23:44 via dailymail.com
  
  Passengers at several East Coast airports were left stranded Monday after an accidentally severed cable brought flights to a halt.
  
  Read more

• The chilling threat to Americans floating over their heads... as insiders reveal how the next world war will actually take shape

  21-09-2026 23:14 via dailymail.com
  
  After a string of mysterious rocket launches by SpaceX this month, the United States military has finally confirmed what many had suspected.
  
  Read more

• Secret war above our heads: Grainy photos of mysterious mega-weapons, shadowy rocket launches into orbit and a $1.2 trillion battle between superpowers

  21-09-2026 23:11 via dailymail.com
  
  After a string of mysterious rocket launches by SpaceX this month, the United States military has finally confirmed what many had suspected.
  
  Read more

• Millions across 17 US states warned to brace for surprise nor'easter in HOURS

  21-09-2026 23:06 via dailymail.com
  
  A major nor'easter is taking aim at the US and millions could face life-threatening conditions for several days.
  
  Read more

• Perpetual underdog AMD nips at Nvidia's heels as it joins the $1T club

  21-09-2026 22:59 via theregister.com
  
  AMD’s market cap briefly passed $1 trillion on Monday, making the perpetual underdog one of a handful of chip designers to ever hold the distinction. Make no mistake, AMD is still the underdog here, at least relative to Nvidia, which holds the distinction of being the most valuable company in the world with a market cap of nearly $5.5 trillion. But while AMD still trails Nvidia by a wide margin, the House of Zen has taken the lead over its long-time rival turned frenemy Intel, which is cur
  
  Read more

• Accidentally cut wire triggers travel chaos at major US airports as passengers face seven-hour delays

  21-09-2026 22:54 via dailymail.com
  
  Passengers at several East Coast airports were left stranded Monday after an accidentally severed cable brought flights to a halt.
  
  Read more

• Skip the upgrade? iPhone 18 Pro aperture about as unrepairable as it gets, iFixit finds

  21-09-2026 22:30 via theregister.com
  
  iFixit has torn down the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max and found both wanting on repairability. Fiddly mechanical bits around the new camera, and a repeated design choice forcing internal repairs to go through a screen with a potentially fragile frame, led the iFixit team to conclude that, even with some improvements, Apple’s latest iPhones come with uncomfortable repairability tradeoffs. "This year’s updated camera is a good place to start," iFixit director of sustainability Elizabeth C
  
  Read more

• Meta Muse AI app flaw lets local malware redirect dictation traffic

  21-09-2026 21:59 via theregister.com
  
  Meta made much of the security of its AI assistant app Muse at launch earlier this month, calling out the app's reliance on Muse Secure VM. "Each person stays in control of their Muse and decides how much access it gets," the ad biz declared, echoing prior expansive claims about the privacy of its data gathering business. But Meta's musing about Muse appears to be a bit overstated: an attacker capable of executing local code may be able to gain more access than a Muse user might expect. Security
  
  Read more

• Treasury chief says AI bosses, not their bots, will carry the can for criminal acts

  21-09-2026 21:10 via theregister.com
  
  The US appears to be inching ever so slowly toward holding AI executives legally liable for their models’ criminal activities. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Monday: “It is the humans who are responsible, not the AI,” for the bots’ bad behavior. “The Hugging Face incident is the responsibility of the OpenAI management, not a bunch of agents." He also referenced current and former OpenAI and Anthropic employees’ dire warnings about AI eradicating
  
  Read more

Follow @scitech_UK on Twitter!