This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Will the real Anthropic please stand up? After weeks of frenzied speculation, Anthropic has filed its IPO prospectus. The 335-page document (100 pages or so are focused on risks) lays out…
Apple is bringing an AI assistant to its suite of productivity apps, including Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. The assistant, which is built on AI models from Apple and OpenAI, can understand a document's context to perform tasks like designing, animating, and refining slides in Keynote. In Pages, Apple says the AI assistant can draft, restructure, […]
Every manufacturer has its own industrial intelligence. Some is documented, and some resides in the knowledge of experienced workers. Consider an experienced operator preparing to restart a line after a changeover. The machine settings matter, but so does knowing how a particular material behaves, what happened during the previous shift, and when an apparently minor…
If there's one issue that seems to activate all kinds of voters in 2026, it's data centers. The rapid buildout of these massive server storage facilities - and the infrastructure construction and expenses that come with them - has sparked local opposition in communities across the country and become a major issue in many congressional […]
Less than a month after its mass release of hundreds of manuscripts that it said contained solutions to long-standing mathematics questions, OpenAI is back with three more "major" discoveries in math, computer science, and physics. What's different this time is the choice to have external experts that OpenAI describes as "shepherds" guiding the results in […]
United Parcel Service raises its sales outlook saying it expects a strong holiday shipping season. The courier raised prices, but demand was still high for the quarter. Earnings and revenue in the third quarter both beat Wall Street estimates. Bloomberg's Matt Griffin reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
A new platform, developed by researchers at the Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba, in collaboration with Mahidol University, makes molecular docking easier to access, understand, and integrate into experimental research. The work is published in the Journal of Cheminformatics.
A study performed on 3,504 individual breast microcalcifications (MCs) scanned using high-resolution 3D micro-CT reveals that the surrounding tissue microenvironment provides stronger diagnostic information than the calcified core alone for distinguishing benign from malignant breast lesions. The findings are published in the journal Breast Cancer Research.
Large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT and Claude, are increasingly being used to provide health information to the public. Although this is beneficial for improving access to treatment information, their limitations were revealed by a new study that found LLMs were biased in their treatment choices and that using these outputs in practice could drive up treatment costs.
A team of researchers from the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) has shown that the speed at which abnormal tau protein accumulates in the brains of people with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is closely linked to how quickly their symptoms worsen. The discovery could help researchers objectively measure disease progression and accelerate the development of treatments for this rare neurological disorder. This study was published in Movement Disorders on Sept. 4, 2026.
Researchers in China have discovered that the vitamin B5 derivative pantethine limits the activity of immune cells that are key contributors to autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis. The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, shows that pantethine prevents the development of psoriasis in mice and also helps alleviate the symptoms of psoriasis patients in a small-scale human trial.
In acute pancreatitis, mild obesity might more than double the odds of vital organ failure, according to an international study by researchers at Semmelweis University analyzing data from more than 2,200 patients. The study, published in the journal Pancreatology, found that patients with obesity may have more than three times the odds of developing severe acute pancreatitis compared with patients of normal weight. Experts therefore emphasize that even gradual or smaller weight loss might reduce the odds of severe complications.
The National Institute for Materials Science has developed a technology to strongly bond dissimilar materials by using a porous layer, formed by a solution-coating and drying process, as an anchor. The research team confirm that even materials that are normally difficult to bond together can be bonded with a strength exceeding 7 MPa by adopting a hybrid approach: adhering to one material through chemical affinity and bonding to another via physical interlocking using tiny pores.
A Mayo Clinic study published in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology suggests that analyzing DNA in cerebrospinal fluid could provide another source of information when MRI cannot provide a clear brain tumor diagnosis or obtaining tissue through biopsy is difficult or potentially unsafe.
Misogyny prevention fund to help tackle sexism at work, school and in public places across UK • UK politics live – latest updates The chancellor will give £15m to a dedicated fund to tackle misogyny in workplaces, schools and public places amid concerns in government about the rise of “manosphere” influencers. The women and equalities minister, Bridget Phillipson, will helm the UK-wide fund, announced last month, marking the first time there has been specific national cash to address misogyny. Continue reading...
From ‘everyday fixes’, party management and communications to long-term plans for care and pensions, the PM’s six key acts so far UK politics live – latest updates Andy Burnham arrived in Downing Street promising to transform the way Britain works, restore hope and bring an end to years of political division. One hundred days later, the prime minister has announced a series of measures aimed at making everyday life easier, he’s reopened the debate over Britain’s relationship with Europe and set out plans to overhaul public services. He has also managed to maintain an unusually visible public p
Liberal-National MP Garth Hamilton says he has ‘witnessed three interactions between cars and people at pre-poll, two accidental’ Get our daily political email , free app or daily news podcast A Liberal-National MP has called for a rethink of pre-poll voting at federal elections, including potentially shortening the amount of time booths are open, amid concerns of threats to voters and volunteers. Security risks to politicians and their staff have been front and centre this week, as parliament returned after the alleged attack on Helen Haines, which left the independent MP in a serious but sta
Investigation recommends government changes legislation so staff assessing people for home support packages can correct the outcome Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Greens leader, David Shoebridge, has used a scathing report from the commonwealth ombudsman to press the government to use the last two sitting weeks of parliament to restore human override to its “unfair” aged care assessment tool. The 104-page ombudsman report , published on Monday, recommends the government change legislation so that aged care workers assessing older Australians for home support p
The prime minister’s disapproval rating increases to 56%, the equal highest in Essential polls since he took the job in 2022 Get our daily political email , free app or daily news podcast One Nation’s primary vote is back on par with Labor in the latest Guardian Essential poll, with Anthony Albanese’s public disapproval rising to its equal highest on record and more Australians than ever before believing the country is on the wrong track. But Australians are still not convinced One Nation or the Coalition would do a better job than the current government, with Labor still the most trusted part
Most polling shows Netanyahu’s coalition will lose its majority; suspected stabbing attempt against Democrats’ leader Yair Golan foiled What you need to know about Israel’s election Across Israel , voting is now under way. Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires: Tens of thousands of Israelis living abroad have flown in for the elections, according to Aid Coalition , a US-based nonprofit focused on strengthening Israel’s democracy. Israeli law generally requires citizens to vote in person in the country, with narrow exceptions for diplomats and certain official e
Alexander Stubb and Jonas Gahr Støre have defended their independent talk with Russia’s president after criticism from Denmark’s PM Meanwhile, Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, has warned that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “testing us and testing Nato’s resolve” as he condemned hybrid threats and “state-sponsored terrorism” from Russia. Streeting repeated his recent warnings that “we have to be ready for a scenario in which the United Kingdom and the Nato alliance finds itself at war with Russia”. He went on: Not because we want war – we have no quarrel with the Russian people, and we have no
A Southwest Research Institute–led study used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to examine ice grains streaming from interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, just the third object from beyond our solar system ever identified. The observations point to tiny aggregates of water ice and dust, about a micron or smaller.
Brand collaborations have been growing in popularity as a powerful marketing tool for businesses looking to generate hype and expand their customer base, but brand managers often rely on costly and time-consuming surveys and screenings to identify potential matchups. A recent study by a Penn State researcher and collaborators proposes a new method: an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered framework that can uncover promising brand collaborations by leveraging the social media chatter of consumers.
University of Phoenix College of Doctoral Studies has published a new white paper, "Building a Lean Six Sigma–Based Background of the Problem and Problem Statement," by James C. Rice, DM/IST, MBA, and Scott A. McCalla, DM, MA. The paper presents an author-developed framework that adapts the Define and Measure logic of Lean Six Sigma to help doctoral practitioner researchers develop a defensible background of the problem and problem statement grounded in authoritative evidence.
When identical charges repel each other but are confined to the surface of a sphere, they seek the arrangement with the lowest possible energy. The idea is simple, but the problem gets harder to solve with every charge added. The so-called Thomson problem dates back to the "plum-pudding" model of the atom, which Nobel laureate Joseph J. Thomson proposed in 1904. The atomic model has long been superseded, but the mathematical problem has endured.
A nano-wrinkled surface combined with a tiny soft actuator can break up infection-causing bacterial sheets, called biofilms, that form on medical implants, according to a University of Michigan Engineering study published in Advanced Functional Materials. When implanted in mice, the platform—called DARTS (dynamically actuated reconfigurable topographical surface)—reduced bacterial burden and improved the surrounding tissue response.
Science has a spam problem. And the spam filter is getting clogged up. According to all reports, academic publishing is drowning in what has come to be called AI slop: low-quality, mass-produced content generated with AI. By 2025, an estimated 57 percent of all published academic articles exhibited detectable evidence of large language model (LLM) influence, a massive jump from 12 percent in 2023. What’s more, over 12 percent of Nature Communications reviews were found to be completely AI-generated in 2025. Given that for every 40 papers showing statistical evidence of AI usage in 2025, only o
Quantum networks, systems that connect devices using quantum mechanical effects, could potentially allow users to share information more securely and efficiently. Building these networks typically entails linking stationary qubits, units of quantum information encoded in trapped ions or other physical systems, using photons (particles of light) transmitted through optical fibers.
The iMicro XL15 takes a slightly different approach to smartphone microscopy. Built by the team behind the iMicro Q3p we covered in 2024, it weighs just 1.2 g (0.04 oz) but makes a very deliberate move away from that model’s headline-grabbing 1,200x magnification. Continue Reading Category: Technology Tags: xxKickbooster , Kickstarter , smartphones , Microscopes
A fridge is about to be merged with a toaster. Dogs and cats are soon to be living together. But it's not mass hysteria; Apple is expected to finally announce a touchscreen MacBook tomorrow at its "Pro and Tell" event. A laptop with a touchscreen should be no big deal - we've had them for […]
Apple Creator Studio updates have today been announced, with what the company describes as “powerful new AI features” using a combination of Apple Intelligence and OpenAI models. Final Cut Pro for Mac will also include built-in MotionVFX to provide a large collection of visual effects, transitions, and motion graphics tools … more…
Apple is updating the iMac with M6 chips. The new iMac generation was introduced today, ahead of Apple's "Pro and Tell" event that's scheduled to take place on Wednesday, giving Apple's all-in-one desktop computer a performance boost via the same chipset it launched with the Mac Mini in August. Prices start from $1,499, and the […]