OpenAI has unveiled GPT-6 Astra, a new flagship model succeeding last year's GPT-5, bringing major gains in computer use, browsing, software engineering, and scientific reasoning. The company reports near-perfect scores on benchmarks like FrontierMath Tier 4, ARC-AGI-3, and ExploitBench, and says Astra is its best model yet for coding tasks. Astra also introduces a new memory system for Codex that lets it retain notes across long coding sessions instead of relying solely on context summarization.
A published recipe reconstructs a Babylonian lamb stew with beets dating to roughly 1750-1730 BCE, based on ancient cuneiform culinary tablets. The instructions detail searing lamb in rendered sheep fat, then simmering it with beets, arugula, shallots, cumin, beer and leeks, finished with a coriander and herb garnish. A companion recipe for an ancient barley-based sourdough 'beer-bread' called bappiru is also included.
Researchers from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences excavated a 5th-century burial jar containing the skeletal remains of a young man, along with two knives placed inside. The unusual burial method has left the team puzzled about the circumstances of his death and interment.
Ahead of next week's launch, rumors detail three advantages Apple's foldable iPhone Ultra will hold over the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max: dual displays offering both larger and smaller screen options, a slimmer folded form that fits pockets more easily, and exclusive multitasking features in iOS 27 like side-by-side apps with drag-and-drop support.
Sony unveiled limited edition DualSense controllers inspired by Grand Theft Auto 6 during its State of Play presentations. The controllers come in black and white versions featuring a gray VI logo, hot pink accents, iridescent blue lower sections, and embossed palm frond designs on the grips. Pre-orders begin September 10 at 10AM ET, priced at $85, with release set for November 19—the same day the game launches.
Long-range forecasters say early data point to a Super El Niño forming ahead of winter 2026/2027, which is expected to produce a pronounced split-flow jet stream pattern across North America and Europe. The outlook combines ocean temperature trends, historical Super El Niño analogs, and early signs of a weakening polar vortex to project month-by-month temperature and snowfall trends across the US, Canada and Europe.
Ugreen has released the MagFlow Pro Magnetic Power Bank, a $149.99 10,000mAh device it calls the first liquid-cooled power bank with wireless charging. A small pump circulates coolant past a copper foil layer to pull heat away from its Qi2.2 wireless coil, visible through a window on the front, while a lanyard-integrated USB-C cable and separate USB-C port allow wired charging of extra devices.
The Trump administration enacted tariffs on foreign drones this week, with thermal-imaging or heavier models facing a 100 percent duty and smaller consumer drones facing 25 percent. Allied nations including the UK, EU, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan face tariffs ranging from 10 to 15 percent, while a broader 25 percent levy on non-sensitive drones takes effect in 2027.
Jevon Martinez filmed himself dismantling automatic license plate reader towers that Bernalillo County had left standing despite cancelling its contract with surveillance company Flock earlier this year. He then drove a truck bed full of the dismantled equipment to the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, framing it as returning the devices, and was arrested there at gunpoint by deputies in tactical gear.
The 2026 Ig Nobel Prizes, which recognize offbeat but scientifically valid research, were awarded for studies including a splash-free urinal design, using mosquito mouthparts to print tiny nozzles, decomposition rates of buried underwear, and the physics of blowing one's nose. For the first time in 35 years, the ceremony left Boston and was held in Zurich, Switzerland, with future events planned for Antwerp in 2027 and returning to Zurich in even-numbered years after.
Circular introduced its Ring 3 lineup, split into a feature-rich Pro model and a lighter Slim version, both equipped with NFC chips for contactless payments and vibration-based alerts for alarms and reminders. The Pro adds FDA-cleared ECG for Afib detection, blood pressure trend tracking, glucose tracking and deeper sleep analysis with up to 12 days of battery, while the Slim focuses on core metrics like heart rate, HRV, SpO2 and skin temperature with up to 10 days of battery.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang affirmed that Hugging Face will continue operating as an open platform accessible to the entire AI ecosystem, even as Nvidia deepens its financial and strategic involvement with the company. The statement comes as Nvidia expands its footprint beyond hardware into software and developer tools central to AI model development.
GoKawiil