NOAA announced on September 14 that El Niño has officially crossed the threshold to become a 'very strong event' for the Northern Hemisphere fall and winter of 2026-27, a designation known as a Super El Niño. Forecasters say this could become the strongest El Niño on record, with effects lingering into 2027 and potentially raising sea levels along California's coast by up to a foot.
A new scientific analysis finds that the polar ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland have shed more than 11 trillion tons of ice since the 1970s. Researchers say the primary cause of this loss is not surface melting from warmer air, but glaciers accelerating and discharging ice into the ocean more quickly.
Grab Holdings will acquire an initial 60% controlling stake in Singapore-based buy-now-pay-later platform Atome Financial for $1.49 billion in cash, with an option to purchase the remaining 40% about two years after the deal closes. CFO Peter Oey said the staged structure helps de-risk the transaction while giving Grab access to Atome's merchant network in travel, beauty and e-commerce. Grab shares fell 3.64% on Nasdaq after the announcement.
Scientists purified and structurally analyzed SC003-mi3, an engineered virus-like particle derived from i3-01 with cysteine mutations and a SpyCatcher domain for attaching other proteins. Using E. coli expression, ammonium sulfate precipitation and dialysis, they produced pure particles suitable for detailed molecular observation of how the nanoparticle assembles itself.
Electric vehicle owners can charge at home either through a standard household outlet or by installing a faster Level 2 charger. The choice depends on factors like battery size, the car's maximum AC charging speed, and daily driving distance, rather than a need to always charge to full like a phone. Home charging remains far cheaper than gasoline, roughly a third of the cost, even before factoring in a Level 2 upgrade.
An opinion piece features students weighing whether a college degree still holds value as AI systems increasingly handle tasks once assigned to entry-level workers. The discussion centers on shifting expectations for new graduates entering a job market reshaped by automation.
Elegoo's Centauri Carbon 2 Combo, a beginner-friendly 3D printer, is currently discounted to $369 from its usual $449. The printer supports four filament rolls simultaneously and includes a fully enclosed print chamber, an auto-leveling bed, and a large touchscreen interface for managing print jobs.
Google has released XLS, an Apache 2.0-licensed toolchain that converts high-level functional descriptions into synthesizable Verilog and SystemVerilog hardware designs. The tool lets engineers write logic once and run it both as native host software and as generated hardware, with correctness guarantees ensuring the two versions behave identically.
LG issued a detailed statement pushing back on a Gamers Nexus investigation alleging its smart TVs capture audio and network data even while asleep or offline. The company said voice processing only activates via a wake word or remote button press, and that features like Automatic Content Recognition and ad targeting are opt-in, not default.
A new Nature Climate Change study by Van Tricht, Zekollari, Huss and colleagues models the fate of individual glaciers worldwide using three global glacier models and multiple climate scenarios ranging from 1.5°C to 4.0°C of warming. Researchers define a glacier as extinct once its area falls below 0.01 km² or its volume drops under 1% of its original size, and their projections show extinction rates peaking around the middle of this century.
Companies deploying AI to automate routine tasks are inadvertently dismantling the on-the-job training pathways that historically turned junior employees into experienced professionals. The shift means firms are restructuring how work gets done rather than simply eliminating headcount, but the entry-level roles being cut are often the same ones that once built future expertise.
Google has agreed to buy roughly 50% of the electricity generated by a nuclear power plant, according to reports. The deal reflects the company's push to secure reliable, carbon-free power to run its data centers and AI operations.