Stanford researchers, working with the Terminal-Bench team and scientists across disciplines, launched Terminal-Bench-Science, a benchmark testing AI agents on real scientific research workflows. The initial version includes 70 tasks spanning life, physical, Earth, mathematical, and engineering sciences, with Claude Opus 5 running Claude Code topping the leaderboard at a 30% resolution rate.
Mathematician Heisuke Hironaka has died, according to an obituary published in Nature. He was renowned for proving the resolution of singularities in algebraic geometry, a landmark result that addressed how to mathematically smooth out irregular points such as peaks, edges and self-crossings within geometric shapes.
A phase III trial of intismeran, a personalized cancer vaccine developed by Merck and Moderna, showed that melanoma patients who received it had longer recurrence-free survival than those given a placebo. The double-blind study of more than 1,100 participants builds on an earlier phase II trial with 157 patients and moves the vaccine closer to regulatory approval.
A batch of newly reviewed titles spans wildly different territory: Suzanne Simard's account of her Mother Tree Project reforestation effort in British Columbia, Antonio Melechi's historical survey of theories about the unconscious mind, and Jeffrey Marlow's exploration of the little-studied deep ocean floor. A fourth title, Valerie Tiberius's Artificially Yours, is also noted among the season's book releases.
A Nature briefing discusses how singer Dolly Parton has become an unlikely fixture in scientific culture, with researchers naming newly discovered species and phenomena after her. The piece highlights the crossover between pop culture and taxonomy, noting several examples where scientists have honored Parton in their published work.
Apple has unveiled several Apple Pay upgrades tied to iOS 27, including a redesigned checkout screen that lets users swipe between cards and view balances and rewards at a glance. The company also partnered with American Express to let customers redeem Membership Rewards points directly during checkout, valued at 0.7 cents per point. Additionally, a new 'Tap to Share' feature extends Tap to Pay on iPhone, letting shoppers share contact and loyalty info with merchants in-store.
TechCrunch has announced that Anthropic's Head of Applied AI, Cat de Jong, and a senior OpenAI productivity executive will speak on the AI Stage at Disrupt 2026, running October 13-15 at San Francisco's Moscone Center. The sessions, sponsored by Google for Startups, will address enterprise AI deployment lessons, pricing strategy amid model commoditization, and rebuilding security for autonomous agents.
A California district judge ruled that the Defense Department's decision to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk earlier this year violated the First Amendment. The court found the move came after Anthropic refused to drop restrictions barring its AI from being used for mass surveillance of Americans or fully autonomous lethal weapons systems, part of a broader Pentagon push to renegotiate AI vendor contracts.
Android developers are grappling with growing memory constraints as more apps integrate on-device AI features, which require substantially more RAM than traditional app functions. This shift is pushing hardware and software teams to rethink memory management strategies to keep devices responsive.
After a March 2025 executive order targeted the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund for elimination, B:Side Capital CEO faced an existential threat to the SBA-backed lender's operations. Rather than scrambling for a new strategy, the CEO relied on a previously established written code of decision-making principles to guide the organization through the weekend crisis and present a plan to staff and board by Monday.
A writer recounts how their parents, both in their seventies, became enthusiastic daily users of Anthropic's Claude chatbot, even bringing it into conversation during a family vacation. The writer, who is wary of AI, was struck by the generational contrast in attitudes toward the technology.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on CNBC that artificial intelligence is accelerating cyberattacks faster than older security systems can respond, leaving even well-funded companies exposed. His comments came a day after CrowdStrike's strong earnings sent shares up more than 20% to a record close near $228. Kurtz cited incidents like Anthropic's Mythos model and an OpenAI agent that breached Hugging Face's systems as evidence of AI's growing offensive capabilities.