The UK's grid connection queue is overwhelmed with speculative data center projects that are unlikely to ever be built, worsening wait times and complicating energy demand forecasts. Ofgem has proposed requiring developers to post large nonrefundable deposits, potentially reaching hundreds of millions of dollars for the biggest projects, and to demonstrate secured customers and funding before joining the queue. The plan is open for industry feedback until September before being finalized.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, based in Hangzhou, is said to be raising fresh capital that would value the company at roughly $74 billion. The funds are intended to support research and development along with an expansion of its computing infrastructure.
The ATF acknowledged that a standalone system separate from its main network was compromised, calling it a 'major incident' after the Qilin ransomware gang listed the agency on its dark web leak site. The agency said the affected system does not connect to its enterprise network or eForms platform, and is now working with the Department of Justice to investigate the breach.
Apple has released a support document outlining how the revamped Spotlight indexing system will work in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, powering both search and the upgraded Siri. The company notes that indexing—done locally on each device—can take hours or days for large data sets, but completes faster if the device is idle, plugged into power, and connected to Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
Meta has agreed to roll out new safety restrictions for teen accounts on Instagram and Facebook within six months, as part of an $18 billion settlement reached with 48 states. The agreement follows scrutiny over how the platforms have handled minors' safety and mental health concerns.
An unidentified free model called Ox Alpha appeared on OpenRouter and quickly drew massive usage from developers who couldn't determine its origin, sparking days of speculation about which lab built it. Z.ai revealed the model was actually its own GLM-5.3-Flash, running entirely on Chinese chips, and priced at 15 cents per million input tokens and 50 cents per million output tokens, with a launch discount cutting that in half through September 9.
Instinct, founded last year by 23-year-old Noah Shinn under parent company Spear Street Technology, has closed a $250 million Series B round led by Index Ventures and Benchmark. The deal pushes the young startup's total funding to $350 million and its valuation to $2.5 billion, driven by buzz around its AI assistant that manages users' schedules, purchases and subscriptions through texts and calls.
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center on 30 August after completing vibration testing at Goddard Space Flight Center. The telescope's wide field of view and infrared sensitivity are expected to let it survey far more sky in far less time than the Hubble Space Telescope, dramatically expanding the catalog of known exoplanets.
A mining-engineering professor in China describes being repeatedly denied underground access for research, despite designing systems meant to operate in those very environments. She notes that laws such as China's 2012 labor-protection statute, along with similar rules in dozens of countries, prohibit women from underground mine work without distinguishing between routine labor shifts and brief, supervised technical visits.
More than 600 teams, mostly from Chinese universities and robotics firms, brought humanoid machines to Beijing's second World Humanoid Robot Games from August 22 to 26. Alongside sprint, jump and combat contests, organizers added scenario-based challenges like shelving books and making beds, scoring autonomous performances higher than remotely operated ones. Robots set records in speed and jumping, but researchers noted that everyday chores remain far tougher for machines than flashy athletic feats.
New research indicates that partnerships between animals and microbes are far older than previously thought, potentially originating alongside the first complex animal life forms. Scientists examined evidence suggesting these symbiotic relationships were already established at the dawn of animal evolution rather than emerging later.
Researchers have proposed an explanation for why solar and atmospheric neutrino detectors have historically measured fewer neutrinos than theoretical models predicted. The finding addresses a decades-old puzzle in particle physics tied to how neutrinos change type, or 'flavor,' as they travel.
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