Sci-Tech news

• Russia to go to the moon in new £30m spaceship

  17-11-2017 14:42 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Russia expects to launch the Luna-25 in 2020. The lunar orbiter will explore the its south pole and collect soil samples to be sent back to earth for analysis.
  
  Read more

• The AI Robots Won’t Strike, So Hyundai’s Workers Did It First

  15-07-2026 17:27 via technocracy.news
  
  During the chaos of the Covid era in 2021, Hyundai quietly bought the leading robot company, Boston Dynamics. It said at the time that it “aims to develop advanced technologies that enhance people’s lives and promote safety, thereby realizing progress for humanity.” Fu you. The robots are poised to take over manufacturing at their auto plants. So much for progress for humanity. So, the humans are striking. ⁃ Patrick Wood, Editor.Electrification isn’t the only major
  
  Read more

• The core traits of FEMCELS: Scientists identify 6 key characteristics in women who feel doomed to be single forever

  15-07-2026 17:24 via dailymail.com
  
  A new study has shed light on the women who feel they are destined to never find love.
  
  Read more

• CISA sounds alarm over trio of exploited SharePoint flaws

  15-07-2026 17:21 via theregister.com
  
  The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has urged all organizations running SharePoint to harden their defenses after the disclosure of actively exploited vulnerabilities. The warning applies to those running any supported version of SharePoint Server on-prem, with three vulnerabilities of particular interest cited. A spoofing bug, CVE-2026-32201 (6.5), was the first to be mentioned. Microsoft disclosed it in March and CISA confirmed it was being actively exploited in June
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Microsoft cancels Patch Tuesday for some Dell users over surprise shutdowns, overheating devices

  15-07-2026 15:44 via theregister.com
  
  Patch Tuesday was followed by Oopsie Wednesday for some Dell customers, with Microsoft slamming on the update brakes after the hardware maker reported some problems. Yesterday was Microsoft's monthly security update for Windows. This month was, by all accounts, a bit of a doozy with a record-breaking number of CVEs patched, some of which were classed as critical and under active exploitation. Better get patching then? Well, er, no. Not if you're using a Dell device affected by issues associated
  
  Read more

• MPs fear Treasury cold feet could sink Whitehall's £1.15B shared services push

  15-07-2026 15:14 via theregister.com
  
  The UK Treasury's reluctance to fully commit to a cross-government £1.15 billion shared service strategy it has funded risks making the whole effort "potentially unworkable," the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has warned. HM Treasury's (HMT) decision in June to delay joining Matrix - one of five clusters the government hopes will save £4.3 billion by moving 17 departments and 300 arm's-length bodies onto shared ERP and HR systems - sends "a very poor reputational signal to the rest
  
  Read more

• Subtle signs in your fingernails that can signal dangerous 'silent' health complications

  15-07-2026 15:11 via dailymail.com
  
  While many of us spend all day looking down at them, they're easy to ignore. Dermatologists speaking to the Daily Mail have revealed the five subtle nail changes you should never ignore.
  
  Read more

• Why it doesn't feel as hot in the UK anymore: Scientists say it takes just two weeks for our bodies to acclimatise to the heat - as Brits claim they're 'starting to feel chilly'

  15-07-2026 15:02 via dailymail.com
  
  Have you noticed that it doesn't feel as hot in the UK anymore, despite what the reading on the thermometer says? If so, you've probably become acclimatised to the heat.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• LegacyHive: 'Bone-shattering' zero-day from Microsoft's serial tormentor not the haymaker that was promised

  15-07-2026 14:59 via theregister.com
  
  Microsoft’s worst nightmare - a prolific zero-day vulnerability hunter who calls themselves Nightmare Eclipse - published yet another zero-day on Tuesday, a vulnerability allowing attackers to mount user hives, including partial exploit code. Suspected of being a disgruntled former Microsoft engineer, based on the sophistication of their prior vulnerabilities, NightmareEclipse came good on their promise to release another zero-day on July 14. Whether it lives up to the promised “bone
  
  Read more

• AWS sustainability claims don't hold water, lawsuit alleges

  15-07-2026 14:21 via theregister.com
  
  Amazon Web Services is facing a lawsuit alleging it published false and misleading statements about the water use and sustainability of its Northern Virginia datacenters, "falsely" portraying those operations as environmentally responsible.The complaint, case number CL26002535-00 filed with the Circuit Court of Arlington County last week, seen by The Register, states that AWS has never publicly disclosed its actual water consumption in the region, known as the world's "datacenter capital." Despi
  
  Read more

• Toxic air invading 17 US states TODAY as massive plume of wildfire smoke crosses nation's border

  15-07-2026 14:19 via dailymail.com
  
  Millions of Americans have been warned of plumes of smoke carrying lung-penetrating particles pouring into the US for the rest of the week. An expert reveals where the risk is greatest.
  
  Read more

• Half of Brits with non-English names have shortened or Anglicised their name to avoid bias, study finds

  15-07-2026 14:12 via dailymail.com
  
  Jesminder and Aleksandr may not sound familiar to most Brits - but Jess and Alex probably do. Half of Brits with non-English names have shortened or Anglicised them, a study reveals.
  
  Read more

• EU lets wearables wriggle out of user-replaceable battery rules

  15-07-2026 13:05 via theregister.com
  
  The European Commission has watered down its rules around battery replaceability with exemptions for some wearable devices, potentially including the Apple Watch and Meta's AI Glasses. A delegated act was adopted by the European Commission on July 14 that exempted the products from EU requirements on the removability and replaceability of portable batteries. The batteries must still be replaceable, but by independent professionals rather than end users. Wet appliances already have an exemption f
  
  Read more

• A moment of silence, please, for the final release of Debian on x86-32

  15-07-2026 12:44 via theregister.com
  
  This week brings two point releases for both Debian 13 - aka “Trixie” - and Debian 12 - “Bookworm,” the latter now shuffling off into long-term support. Debian 13.6 and Debian 12.15 are just the latest point releases of Trixie and Bookworm, but Debian 12.15 is also significant in another way: it marks the end of regular support for Debian 12, which is being handed over to the LTS team. That reduced level of support is scheduled to last until mid-2028. That means Debian 12
  
  Read more

• EU competition decision hands SAP customers more leverage in contract talks

  15-07-2026 12:00 via theregister.com
  
  Enterprise customers should use SAP's commitments to the European Commission to reconsider complex ERP migration timelines and gain leverage in negotiations with the German software giant, according to Gartner. Last week, the European Commission ended an investigation into possible anticompetitive practices after SAP agreed to abolish reinstatement fees and reduce back-maintenance fees, among other concessions. The case stems from September last year, when the executive branch of the EU launched
  
  Read more

• Sick of the UK heatwave? Scientists say PRAYING for rain really does work - but only in some places

  15-07-2026 11:57 via dailymail.com
  
  Following weeks of relentless heatwaves, many Brits will be praying for a bit of rain to cool everything down. Now, a study has revealed this really can work - but only in some places.
  
  Read more

• Mediterranean holidays face 50°C nightmare: Experts warn blistering temperatures are 'perfectly possible' this summer

  15-07-2026 11:29 via dailymail.com
  
  Experts have warned that 50°C (122°F) is 'perfectly possible' in southern Europe in the coming weeks.
  
  Read more

• Software bloat? This elevator needs an 8GB Core i5

  15-07-2026 11:15 via theregister.com
  
  BORK!BORK!BORK! Paris might sometimes be called "The City of Light" or perhaps "The City of Love" by the romantically inclined. Judging by this hotel's elevators, "The City of Bork" is more appropriate. Spotted by eagle-eyed Register reader Nathaniel in a Paris hotel, what we assume to be digital signage is instead stalled on the all too familiar American Megatrends BIOS configuration screen. The computer behind the scenes also seems a bit overpowered to serve information for hotel services. Ins
  
  Read more

• OpenMandriva's accused repo wrecker says it wasn't sabotage – it was a message

  15-07-2026 10:30 via theregister.com
  
  The contributor accused by OpenMandriva of sabotaging its Linux distribution says he deliberately deleted repositories and obsoleted packages, but insists the project has badly misrepresented both his motives and his role. Last week, OpenMandriva accused Davide Beatrici of abusing administrative privileges to delete parts of the project's GitHub repositories and publish an empty package in its Cooker development branch that obsoleted GNOME and COSMIC packages. The distro described the incident a
  
  Read more

• The Star Wars cantina scene shows we need a new hope for the agentic web

  15-07-2026 09:29 via theregister.com
  
  OPINION Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince recently reported that bots now generate more internet traffic than humans, yet few websites have undergone a redesign to accommodate both human and agentic visitors. Clever agents find a way in regardless. I learned this after asking Anthropic's Fable to perform some web research, a task it delegated to a squad of subagents to save me a bit of cash. I watched those subagents work – aka "botsitting" – and approved their requests to access various
  
  Read more

• Botticelli's Venus may have died after rape caused brain rupture, scientists discover

  15-07-2026 09:26 via dailymail.com
  
  A Renaissance-era beauty who inspired Botticelli's Venus may have died of a rape-related brain rupture, scientists believe. 
  
  Read more

• At last, a good reason to buy an AI PC: Reining in runaway token bills

  15-07-2026 08:26 via theregister.com
  
  Corporate PC buyers haven’t rushed to buy AI PCs but analyst firm Gartner thinks the machines can now do an important new job: Running AI workloads on the desktop to provide a hedge against tearaway token bills. The firm on Monday published a Strategic Roadmap for Agentic AI PCs in which Research Vice President Steve Kleynhans argues that enterprise AI tools that run on the desktop “have been slow to materialize.” “On -device AI has yet to achieve mainstream adoption and
  
  Read more

• South Korea to launch universal basic AI chatbot

  15-07-2026 06:54 via theregister.com
  
  South Korea’s government has posted a tender seeking suppliers to build a universal basic AI chatbot, and an AI agent for government services. The “AI for everyone” plan calls for private entities to create and operate the AI systems under contracts that expire in the year 2031. Bid documents reveal that Seoul will provide up to 256 Nvidia B200 GPUs to successful bidders. Winners must match government funding. The aim of the policy is to ensure that every resident of South Kore
  
  Read more

• Australia demands AI companies must produce more energy than they consume, stop ‘theft’ of content

  15-07-2026 05:40 via theregister.com
  
  Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has delivered a landmark speech outlining the nation’s AI policy, which will require datacenter builders to contribute more energy than they consume and mean AI companies must reach agreements with local artists and media before using their content. “Let me make this crystal clear – not everything produced in Australia is up for grabs,” Albanese said, a reference to both content and the nation’s energy and water resources.
  
  Read more

• Google Cloud's VMware service loses resilience due to a dud update

  15-07-2026 02:16 via theregister.com
  
  Google Cloud has admitted it made a configuration change that means some customers of its VMware Engine (GCVE) can’t use stretched cluster. A G-Cloud incident report time-stamped 13:24 PDT on July 14 (21:24 UTC) reports some customers “are experiencing zonal outages impacting network connectivity across multiple regions” and that the trouble started at 10:00 PDT. Google first attributed the problem to “an underlying network connectivity issue affecting the infrastructure
  
  Read more

• Does your dog need to go to rehab? Study reveals how pooches can become ADDICTED to their toys - as vets reveal the key signs their obsession is becoming unhealthy

  15-07-2026 01:01 via dailymail.com
  
  Is your dog obsessed with their tennis ball or tug rope? If so, your pet could have an unhealthy 'addiction' to their favourite toys, experts warn.
  
  Read more

• Britain's climate is on the MOVE: Warming is shifting north and uphill, scientists warn Northerners - with extreme heatwaves the 'new normal'

  15-07-2026 01:01 via dailymail.com
  
  Britain's climate is on the move, a new report by the Met Office has revealed.
  
  Read more

• OpenAI hides Codex agent instructions behind encryption, leaving developers in the dark

  15-07-2026 01:00 via theregister.com
  
  OpenAI has never been as open as its name suggests and is becoming even less so. The free-spending AI giant recently revised the multi-agent orchestration in its Codex command line interface to encrypt messages passed to subagents. OpenAI's Codex supports multi-agent orchestration, a way to have a parent agent spawn child agents or delegate tasks to other agents that may call out to different models. Codex/GPT-5.6 introduced a protocol called multi-agent v2 that appears to be geared toward letti
  
  Read more

• UK social media ban plans revealed: 16 and 17-year-olds will face CURFEWS from midnight to 6am, government reveals

  14-07-2026 23:30 via dailymail.com
  
  While under-16s will be blocked from accessing social media platforms entirely, the government has now confirmed that 16 and 17-year-olds will face curfews.
  
  Read more

• Patchpocalypse Now: Microsoft tops last month's record with 622 Patch Tuesday CVEs

  14-07-2026 22:49 via theregister.com
  
  Remember last month when we were awed by Microsoft’s record-setting Patch Tuesday that addressed 206 CVEs? That was a quaint era compared to this month: Redmond just rolled out patches for 622 CVEs specific to its products, slightly more than tripling last month’s all-time high. Redmond’s Patch Tuesday release is once again one for the record books, with everything under the sun getting some security fixes – including 428 non-Microsoft Chromium CVEs affecting Edge that ar
  
  Read more

Follow @scitech_UK on Twitter!