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Tech News
A new report warns that the current strong El Niño event, which is pushing global temperatures unusually high, could contribute to nearly half a million deaths over the next six months. The report describes the extreme heat as a preview of conditions expected to become the norm within a few decades.
In a UN address, President Trump said the US rejects global efforts to regulate AI and announced he wants federal documents to replace 'artificial intelligence' with 'super intelligence,' arguing the word 'artificial' makes it sound fake. He also dismissed warnings about AI risks, comparing them to past claims about climate change, and said the US is leading China in the technology race.
An international team of scientists conducting a periodic assessment of Earth's systems found that seven of nine defined 'planetary boundaries' have been crossed, according to the report. These boundaries cover areas such as climate, biodiversity and freshwater that researchers consider critical to maintaining a stable environment for human life.
In a speech to the UN General Assembly, President Trump rejected any global effort to regulate artificial intelligence, arguing that the lack of strict climate regulation has worked out fine and using that as reasoning against AI oversight. He also said he wants to rename artificial intelligence as 'super intelligence,' claiming the word 'artificial' makes it sound 'fake.'
In remarks tied to AI policy, President Trump said the United States is renaming artificial intelligence to 'super intelligence' in official documents, arguing the word 'artificial' wrongly implies the technology is fake. He also dismissed warnings about AI risks as coming from the same critics he blames for past controversies like Russia collusion claims and climate change alarms, and vowed the US would maintain its lead over China.
A group of artists has designed a conceptual tote bag that functions as an emergency flotation device, unfolding into a wearable vest that inflates via a pull cord. Under normal circumstances it looks and works like a standard tote, but is intended for use if flooding, such as in a subway, becomes life-threatening.
A clinical psychologist and public-health researcher describes how coastal communities in Kenya and elsewhere are experiencing psychological and social fallout from climate change, including anxiety, substance abuse, gender-based violence and eroding cultural traditions tied to livelihoods like fishing. The author argues these non-economic losses—identity, belonging, intergenerational knowledge—are rarely captured in climate policy discussions, and calls for new tools to measure them ahead of COP31 negotiations in Antalya and Climate Week NYC 2026.
The US Climate Prediction Center says above-normal temperatures will persist across much of the country through late September, driven by a strong El Niño pattern and an atmospheric ridge trapping warm air. Some regions, including the Upper Midwest and Deep South, could see readings 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, extending a summer that already set numerous heat records nationwide.
A new system called the Transient Artifact and Continuous Learning System (TACLS) combines satellite data and machine learning to help the National Weather Service identify flood-prone areas faster and issue earlier alerts. The technology comes after incidents like the June flash flood in Lanesville, Indiana, where over 8 inches of rain fell in hours and residents received evacuation warnings only after flooding had already begun.
The breakdown of the Milne Ice Shelf in Canada's High Arctic caused the freshwater lake that once floated atop denser seawater behind it to empty out within a matter of months. This lake was the last known epishelf lake in the Canadian Arctic, formed by a rare balance of ice-shelf structure and layered water that has now been broken.
Maine recorded a wave of great white shark encounters this summer, including a lifeguard pulled underwater near Scarborough and a dozen sightings near Pine Point Beach within two days. Several beaches closed temporarily as sharks were spotted through Labor Day weekend, with one caught by a fisherman about 30 miles down the coast. Experts say warming waters play a role, but the bigger driver is a decades-old conservation success rebuilding seal and shark populations, combined with more beachgoers using tech that spots sharks.
The Trump administration's EPA, led by Lee Zeldin, has finalized plans to eliminate federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas power plants, rolling back rules established under the Biden and Obama administrations. A companion rule would also try to block future administrations from reinstating such restrictions on power plant emissions.