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Android Authority found evidence in Google Messages beta version 20260921 of a new feature that surfaces a floating search icon when users scroll up within a chat thread. Tapping the icon opens the existing search interface, bypassing the current three-dot menu route. The outlet says it activated and tested the feature on a device, and it appeared to function smoothly, though it is not yet publicly available.
Harvard Medical School researchers led by postdoctoral researcher Jian Li identified a gene, ALDH3B2, that normally suppresses the natural but rare tendency of pancreatic ductal cells to turn into insulin-producing beta-like cells. Silencing this gene in a genetic screen raised the conversion rate from under 1 percent to about 8.5 percent, and when these altered human cells were transplanted into diabetic mice, the animals began producing human insulin and their blood glucose levels fell close to normal.
A team from Harvard and the University of Oregon report detecting radio emissions directly traced to beta Pictoris b, a gas giant roughly 11 times Jupiter's mass located 64 light-years away, using South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope. In their yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper, they describe rapid, recurring, highly circularly polarized bursts and persistent emission between 0.85 and 3.5 GHz, which they attribute to naturally occurring auroras from charged particles along the planet's magnetic field.
Google Messages is widely rolling out a redesigned long-press menu to users on the stable app, moving action items like Reply, Forward, Copy, Star, Delete and Info into a floating list near the selected message instead of a top toolbar. The update also adds selective text copying, letting users drag selection handles to copy only part of a message rather than the whole thing. The feature had previously been available only to beta testers since August, and reports suggest it now appears on both Pixel and Samsung devices.
Google has pushed out Android 17 QPR2 Beta 6 to Pixel testers, arriving sooner than the usual two-week cadence and carrying build number CP41.260831.007. Unlike Beta 5, this build does not support the Pixel 11 series, only extending to Pixel 10 devices, alongside a set of bug fixes Google outlined for the release.
A preprint study by researchers at Harvard University and the University of Oregon reports the first clear detection of radio emissions from a planet outside our solar system. The signal, picked up by South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope, comes from Beta Pictoris b, a young gas giant several times the mass of Jupiter orbiting a star 63 light-years away. The findings have not yet been peer-reviewed.
Apple has made macOS 27.2 Golden Gate available to public beta testers, following the second developer beta release a day earlier. The build number, 26B5091g, matches that of developer beta 2, and adds Siri AI support for French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish alongside English.
Nothing has opened its Android 17-based OS 5.0 beta to three more devices: the Phone 4a, Phone 3a Pro, and Phone 3a. The update brings a visual overhaul with a new Geist typeface, redesigned Settings and Camera apps, split notification panels, transparent widgets, and more customization options. Users have only one week to enroll before the beta window closes, after which they must wait for the stable release expected in early November.
Google is testing a redesigned search experience in Google Messages that shows preview rows of shared photos, videos, links, and places directly on the search homepage, rather than requiring users to tap into separate filter categories. The beta also adds the ability to search within a specific conversation from the main search page and see every matching text message without switching between chats. These changes were found in Google Messages beta version 20260917 through an APK teardown.
Apple's watchOS 27.2 beta 2, released to developers, brings back the App Switcher feature that had been removed in watchOS 27. Instead of the old double-click of the Digital Crown, users now activate it by pressing and holding the bottom of the screen while inside an app, then turning the crown to scroll through recent apps.
Bitrig, an AI-assisted coding platform, has updated its tools to support building and testing apps for Apple's iPhone Duo, following last week's Xcode 27.1 beta 1 release with similar support. The new feature includes an interactive 3D simulator letting developers fold, tilt, rotate, and position a virtual device to see how their app responds to different configurations like tabletop or tent modes.
Apple has pushed out the second beta of its 27.2 software updates for developers, just five days after beta 1 arrived. The rollout covers iPadOS 27.2, watchOS 27.2, tvOS 27.2 and related platforms, following last week's public launch of iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate. Notably, Apple skipped a 27.1 release for most devices, with reports suggesting that version is reserved exclusively for the rumored iPhone Duo.