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Tech News
ASUS has released its first gaming-focused soundbar, the ROG Gjallar, in the US market at a price of $600. The device features a 5.1.2-channel setup with Dolby Atmos support, a wireless 65W subwoofer, and a control hub with built-in microphones designed to enable headset-free multiplayer voice chat while filtering background noise.
Global Energy Monitor's updated tracking shows gas-fired power capacity in development specifically for data centers reached over 189 gigawatts by mid-2026, up from 97 gigawatts at the end of 2025 and just 4 gigawatts in early 2024. The surge reflects tech companies building private 'behind-the-meter' gas plants to power AI data centers rather than waiting for grid connections.
Indian startup Airbound has closed a $37 million Series A round led by Greenoaks, with backing from DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed and Humba Ventures, bringing its total funding to nearly $50 million less than a year after an $8.65 million seed round. The company is developing lightweight, tail-sitter drones that take off and land vertically, aiming to carry cargo more cheaply than trucks by minimizing the aircraft's own weight relative to payload.
Deadline reports that Tom Selleck has signed on as a guest star for Apple TV's still-untitled comedy series led by Elizabeth Banks, though his role hasn't been disclosed. The show, created by Liz Heldens and Matt Ward and produced by 20th Television, already features Ted Danson, Hamish Linklater, Rob Delaney, Michelle Buteau, Simu Liu, Jared Goldstein and Spencer Moss. The plot follows Banks' character Heidi as she navigates a post-divorce life while getting entangled in her father's retirement-community romance.
At Hot Chips 2026, IBM unveiled an early look at a future mainframe processor featuring 11 IBM Z cores on a 2-nanometer process, clocked above 5.7 GHz, capable of natively executing both z/Architecture and AArch64 instructions on the same cores without emulation. The chip will include specialized accelerators for AI fraud detection, I/O, compression, cryptography and sorting, plus a large cache hierarchy topping out near 3.5 GB of virtual L4 cache. IBM hasn't named the chip or its host system but expects it around 2028, likely powering a future z18-class mainframe.
Northwestern University researcher Reese Richardson expanded his earlier investigation into Thermo Fisher's antibody catalogue and found over 18,000 questionable validation images spanning 15 supply companies, publishing the findings in a public database on August 25. Many of the western blot images used to prove antibody quality show signs of digital manipulation, according to his analysis.
A researcher has assembled historical footage and photographs, including a BBC film of scientist Susan James testing helicopter noise levels at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough, to document the scale of the UK's former scientific civil service. In the early 1980s that service employed tens of thousands of scientists and engineers across more than 70 research centres, including the RAE and the Building Research Establishment in Watford, running national programmes in aerodynamics, weaponry, acoustics and building science.
Researchers analyzed nearly half a million brain cells from tissue of 30 deceased individuals, creating a detailed cellular map of the adult hippocampus. The study, published in Nature Medicine, found that people who had depression showed disrupted production of new neurons compared with those without the disorder.
Researchers studying mice found that rising testosterone levels during puberty appear to suppress the type of lung inflammation associated with asthma. This offers a possible biological explanation for why many boys who suffer from asthma in childhood see their symptoms diminish or disappear after puberty, a pattern long observed but poorly understood.
A letter published in Nature responds to an earlier essay noting a class scored 96% on a take-home midterm but only 48.6% on a closed-book final. The authors argue this disparity isn't primarily about students cheating or inadequate proctoring, but reveals that many university assessments test tasks AI tools can now complete faster and better than typical students.
Researchers report the discovery of an instrument in Egypt believed to have been used for land surveying in antiquity. The find offers physical evidence of the measurement techniques ancient Egyptians relied on for construction and land division.
A Nature feature examines how education systems and researchers are working to protect schooling and academic activity in regions affected by war. It underscores the disruption conflict causes to students, teachers, and institutions, and points to initiatives aimed at preserving learning continuity.